WASHINGTON, Sept 29: President George Bush, in an interview published on Friday, said the Europeans should have time to see if they can convince Iran, ‘sooner rather than later’, to suspend its uranium enrichment programme.

Asked by The Wall Street Journal how much time he wanted, Mr Bush said ‘sooner rather than later’ to make sure that these discussions are not (Iran’s) attempt to stall their way into us losing our interest in the subject.”

Pressed on whether a possible new deadline for Iranian compliance might be set for the end of December, Mr Bush said: “I would certainly hope not.”

“I talked to the Secretary of State (Condoleezza Rice) about this very subject this morning, who agrees with me that we ought to give the Europeans time to see whether or not the Iranians will make the proper choice about verifiably suspending” their enrichment programme, the US president said.—AFP