Egypt must do more to meet protesters' demands for political change, the United States said on Wednesday in a sharp escalation of rhetoric with Egypt.

Washington is waiting for "real, concrete" moves to speed the transition, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said after Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit suggested the United States was eager to impose its will on Cairo.

"What you see happening on the streets of Cairo is not all that surprising when you see the lack of steps that their government has taken to meet their concerns," Gibbs said.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday set out steps Egypt must take in the face of unrelenting protests against President Hosni Mubarak, bluntly telling his government to stop harassing protesters and immediately repeal an emergency law allowing detention without charge.

The demands appeared aimed at raising pressure on Mubarak's handpicked vice president, Omar Suleiman, the former intelligence chief who is negotiating with opposition figures demanding Mubarak's immediate ouster.

"Commitment to Israel's security"

"A lot has changed in Egypt, just within the period of the last week," Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, told journalists on a conference call. "We believe it can never go back to being the way it was."

Mubarak has given no indication he will step down, saying only that he will not run in September elections.

Aboul Gheit, in an interview with the PBS "NewsHour" program, said Biden's advice was "not at all" helpful and that he was amazed by the suggestion the emergency law should go.

"We have 17,000 prisoners loose in the streets, out of jails that have been destroyed. How can you ask me to sort of disband that emergency law while I'm in difficulty?" he said.

"Give me time, allow me to have control, to stabilize the nation, to stabilize the state, and then we would look into the issue."

Gibbs said Mubarak's administration appeared out of touch.

"I think it is clear that the Egyptian government is going to have to take some real, concrete steps in order to meet the threshold that the people of Egypt, that they represent, require from their government."

President Barack Obama discussed Egypt with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on Wednesday, the White House said.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak held meetings at the White House to discuss the impact of Egypt's crisis on stability in the Middle East.

The U.S. officials stressed Washington's "unshakable commitment to Israel's security, including through our continued support for Israel's military, and the unprecedented security cooperation between our two governments," the White House said in a statement after the meeting.

With calls for an orderly transition, the United States hopes the $1.3 billion in annual aid it gives Egypt's military is a stabilizing factor. But the idea of putting conditions on that aid was a hot topic at a hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday.

Agencies