Brussels, Belgium ? Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on Wednesday that it risks U.N. action if negotiations with Europe over its nuclear program don’t progress.

At NATO headquarters, Rice said the United States had set no deadline on the Iran talks, but that they cannot go on forever. She added the Bush administration had not changed its view that the United Nations should step in to get tougher on Iran. President Bush has called Iran, along with prewar Iraq and North Korea, as a member of “the axis of evil,” for its alleged ties to terrorist groups and purported attempts to develop nuclear arms.

Iran says its program is for nuclear power, not weapons. In Tehran, President Mohammad Khatami said Wednesday that no Iranian government would ever abandon the progress the country has made in developing peaceful nuclear technology.

The comment did not augur well for negotiations with three European countries that are trying to persuade Iran to cease permanently the enrichment of uranium and have promised economic and technological aid in return. Khatami said that if the talks with Britain, France and Germany fail, his government will not be bound by its undertaking to suspend enrichment.

“If other parties are not committed to their promises, we will not be committed to our promises at all,” Khatami said.