Rice says unclear if Iran will respond positively

By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday it was unclear whether Iran would respond positively this weekend to an offer to suspend sensitive nuclear work in exchange for incentives.

"I don't know," Rice said when asked if she anticipated a positive response from Iran during Saturday talks that a senior U.S. envoy is also attending, in a break with U.S. policy.

"The point we are making is that the United States is firmly behind this diplomacy and firmly behind and unified with our allies. Hopefully the Iranians will take that message," she added.

Rice decided this week to send the third-ranking official in the State Department, William Burns, to a meeting in Geneva with Iran's nuclear negotiator, along with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and other envoys from China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany.

Iran is expected to respond to an offer of incentives made last month by major powers, which includes financial and diplomatic carrots as well as cooperation in developing a civilian nuclear program.

"We will see what the Iranians say," said Rice.

She said Burns' attendance -- a sharp departure from the usual U.S. isolation policy on Iran -- would make it clear to Iran that the international community was united.

"(We are) ... offering the Iranians a way to really engage with the international community but also being insistent that they need to suspend verifiably their program in order to enter into negotiations," she said.