The United States has no desire to have a conflict with Iran, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview with CNN on Thursday. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- The United States has no desire to have a conflict with Iran, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview with CNN on Thursday.

    "Let me just say here publicly, the United States has no desire for confrontation with Iran. None," Rice said.

    "The option that we have is to continue to try to convince those who are reasonable in Iran, that the course they are on is destructive," she said.

    The U.S. top diplomat also reiterated Washington's willingness to talk to Iran if Tehran gives up its uranium-enrichment program.

    Rice made the remarks when Iran on Wednesday defied a UN deadline for the Islamic Republic to suspend its uranium enrichment and vowed to continue its controversial nuclear program.

    Although the White House and State Department have for days kept denying reports that the United States is to resort to military means against Iran for its defying of the UN resolution, American military presence in the gulf region has been remarkably beefed up as two U.S. aircraft carrier groups were deployed in the region. ¡¡