A view of the underground uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, Iran , is seen in this DigitalGlobe satellite image released with notations by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) on April 16, 2006. -Xinhua

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asked the UN Security Council yesterday to act on Iran as the Gulf country is unlikely to meet requirements of the Security Council.

"It goes without saying that the United States believes the Security Council has to act," she told a press conference after the first day of an informal foreign ministers' meeting of NATO.

The Security Council on March 28 asked Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can lead to the making of nuclear weapons. It also asked the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, to report to it this Friday whether Iran has complied with the demand.

Rice said Iran is not going to meet these requirements.

She said the credibility of the Security Council is at stake and Iran should not be made cost-free to challenge the international community.

"The Security Council is the primary and most important institution for the maintenance of peace and stability and security and it cannot have its will and its word simply ignored by a member state," Rice said.