WASHINGTON, Feb 25: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday that Iran does not need to reverse its nuclear programme for holding direct talks with Washington; it just has to suspend it.

“Well, they don’t need a reverse gear,” said Ms Rice in an interview with the ABC Television. “They need to stop and then we can come to the table and we can talk about how to move forward.”

Earlier Sunday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad compared his country’s nuclear drive to a train without a reverse gear or brakes. “We dismantled the rear gear and brakes of the train and threw them away sometime ago,” he was quoted on the radio as telling Islamic clerics.

“But ... Iran has another course that it can take,” said Ms Rice when asked to comment on Mr Ahmadinejad’s statement. “If it stops its enrichment and reprocessing activities as demanded by the international community, we’re all prepared to have full-scale negotiations anytime and anyplace,” she said.

In a separate interview with the Fox News, she said if Iran accepted the US proposal, “I am prepared to meet my counterpart or an Iranian representative at any time.”