UNITED NATIONS — U.S. Ambassador John Bolton urged Iran to follow Libya's example and give up the pursuit of nuclear weapons, which he said would ensure the Tehran government remains in power.

After making the comment Monday to leaders of B'nai Brith International, Bolton told reporters he was not implying that the U.S. would seek regime change in Iran if the government refuses to suspend its uranium enrichment program.

He said he was making the point to Iran that it has the opportunity to improve relations with the U.S. and other countries and avoid possible Security Council action if it chooses the Libya model. His comments came just as Iran was about to be offered a new package of incentives to stop enrichment.

Last week, the United States said it was taking Libya off the list of state sponsors of terrorism and planned to restore diplomatic relations with Moammar Gadhafi's government for the first time since 1980 because it had abandoned nuclear weapons and terrorist activities.

"This is a sign to the rulers in Tehran that if they give up their long-standing support for terrorism and they give up their pursuit of weapons of mass destruction that their regime can stay in place and that they can have a different relationship with the United States and the rest of the world," he said.

The United States, Britain and France, hopefully with Russian and Chinese support, will shortly present Iran with a stark choice of incentives if it suspends uranium enrichment and caps its nuclear ambitions — and disincentives if it does not, Bolton said.

But Tehran appeared unlikely to accept the deal.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told journalists in Kuwait City on Saturday that while Iran wants the U.N. Security Council to abandon a resolution it is drafting, suspending nuclear activities goes against Tehran's legitimate right to a civilian nuclear energy program under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty which allows uranium enrichment.

Bolton noted that the Iranians have been rejecting incentives for the past three years.

"Needless to say, they haven't yet commented on the package of disincentives but you can imagine what their reaction to that will be," he said.

The Americans are insisting that the new package include the threat of a Security Council resolution that is militarily enforceable if Tehran refuses. But Russia and China — who also have vetoes in the Council — oppose any resolution that even implicitly threatens the use of force.

Israel's U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman said his country is "dismayed and disappointed by the role which is being played by Russia and China, which is actually stalling and delaying a resolution on Iran."