The United States is giving European efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear program a few more months before considering tougher measures, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview published yesterday. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Rice also played down the threats from Iran and North Korea, and said stabilizing the Middle East overrode the nuclear issue as the top challenge for President George W. Bush's administration. Rice said efforts by Britain, Germany and France to wean Tehran off its suspected nuclear arms programs were "the right course" but added, "obviously at some point in time the UN Security Council is an option."Asked how long Washington would wait before deciding to seek tougher UN action, Rice said, "I don't want to put a timeline on it, but I think we probably want to make an assessment this summer and see where we are and see how far we've gone." Rice's remarks, the first official hint of any deadline for the talks, came after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called for tougher action to halt what he called an Iranian nuclear program near "a point of no return." The chief US diplomat sought to tone down the Israeli alarm. She said Sharon's presentation to Bush at their summit Monday "wasn't a new revelation" and the concern was less about Iran's current capability than its efforts and intentions.