Washington, June 1 (DPA) The US will engage in multilateral talks with Iran if Tehran verifiably suspends uranium enrichment, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday.

The talks would take place along with France, Britain and Germany, the so-called EU-3 that have been trying for more than two years to get Iran to dismantle its nuclear ambitions, Rice said in a formal speech at the State Department here.

The proposal offers for the first time that Washington would sit at one table with Tehran - after more than 25 years of severed diplomatic relations.

Rice said the US believes the offer to talk to Iran "gives the negotiating track new energy".

She said the US was willing to engage in talks as a way of exerting "strong leadership to give diplomacy its very best chance to succeed".

"As soon as Iran fully and verifiably suspends its enrichment and reprocessing activities, the United States will come to the table with our EU-3 colleagues and meet with Iran's representatives," she said.

She made clear that if Iran refused to suspend enrichment and hold talks, it was making a "negative choice" that would "incur only great costs".

She sidestepped questions from journalists about whether China and Russia had agreed to back sanctions in a UN Security Council resolution if Iran does not accept Wednesday's overture. China and Russia have objected to the threat of economic or military sanctions in a resolution.

But without mentioning Moscow and Beijing, Rice said "there is substantial agreement and understanding that Iran now faces a clear choice ... If Iran is not willing to suspend, there is another path. Our friends and partners understand the importance of this step."

US President George W. Bush had telephone discussions with the leaders of Russia, France and Germany earlier this week on the Iran issue.

The US may also be willing to scrap the threat of the use of force in a UN resolution under debate, The New York Times reported Wednesday. Rice was heading to Vienna to continue negotiations on the nuclear standoff with Iran later this week.

Bush has been under pressure to engage Iran in talks after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent letter to the White House - the first overture for direct contact in more than 25 years.

The pressure for talks has come from former secretaries of state and diplomats. But the Bush administration had until Wednesday rejected such an idea and dismissed the letter as not serious because it did not offer any compromise on the nuclear issue.

The overture to talk was apparently sent from Washington to Iran via Switzerland, CNN reported. Switzerland has acted as the diplomatic intermediary since the seizure of the American embassy and American hostages in Tehran provoked the US to break off diplomatic contacts.