Washington is welcoming a new European-sponsored draft resolution that would impose targeted UN sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment.

President Bush has begun three days of intense consultations on his Iraq policy. VOA's Paula Wolfson reports from the White House, he began with a trip to the State Department to hear the views of top diplomats and officials working on Iraqi reconstruction.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday she is ready for wide-ranging dialogue with her Iranian counterpart provided Iran halts uranium enrichment and returns to negotiations on its nuclear program. Rice was responding to calls this week by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group for the United States to engage Iran and Syria to help stabilize Iraq.