Rice sees no sign Iran drop sensitive atom

MADRID (Reuters) - Iran has not provided any evidence to suggest it is willing to freeze sensitive nuclear work, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday following talks between Tehran and the European Union.

Rice said on arrival in Madrid, where EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani met on Thursday, that she had not yet been briefed on the substance of the meeting.

"But I hope they were constructive," Rice told reporters traveling with her. "The only question is: are we getting to a point where the Iranians are prepared to suspend (sensitive nuclear work) so that negotiations can begin?"

"I don't see any evidence of it but I frankly haven't had a chance to speak to Javier (Solana) since the talks concluded," she said.

Rice said she would speak to Solana on Friday or Saturday. Her busy schedule in Spain included talks with the king, prime minister and foreign minister before heading back to Washington.

The EU-Iran talks produced no breakthrough on the core dispute -- Iran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment as a condition for negotiations on trade benefits, despite the specter of a third round of punitive U.N. sanctions against it.

But Solana said Iran, which has the world's second largest oil and gas reserves, indicated more willingness to cooperate with U.N. watchdog inquiries into the nature its program.

Tehran says it is solely for electricity generation but Western powers suspect is a front for building atom bombs.

Asked about suggestions that the United States and others might be prepared to show flexibility on conditions for negotiations with Iran to defuse the stand-off, Rice said Washington had already been flexible on the "myriad ways" Solana had been given to consult with the Iranians.