"We must remain united in insisting that Iran and North Korea abandon their nuclear weapons ambitions, and choose instead the path of peace," Rice said in an opening statement at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But under questioning, Rice could do no more than express the hope that Washington's current policies of relying on European mediation with Iran and six-party talks with North Korea would eventually bear fruit.

Rice reacted cautiously to reports from Pyongyang that the North Koreans were ready to rejoin negotiations with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia that collapsed last year.

"We've heard nothing really from North Korea," the outgoing national security adviser said. "And I hope that they will actually act because we found that their words are not always completely reliable."

North Korea had been pressing for direct discussions with the Americans. But Rice told the senators that the administration of President George W. Bush was committed to a multilateral approach.

"Our goal now has to be to make the six-party mechanism work for dealing with the North Korean nuclear program and then hopefully for dealing with the broader problem of managing this dangerous regime," she said.

Rice acknowledged the Americans had little leverage with Iran, which has been under US sanctions dating back to 1979. She said Washington was working with Britain, France and Germany to develop a strategy that would hold Iran accountable.

"I would take as a first step that if the Iranians do not show that they're going to live up to their international obligations that we refer them to the Security Council," she said, adding that "at some point that may be exactly where we need to go."

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