US reaction: The US envoy to Northern Ireland, Mitchell Reiss, is to travel to London, Belfast and Dublin later this month to assess the political fallout from the British general election.
Mr Reiss said yesterday that he will meet with "anyone who will listen" in Northern Ireland and will hold meetings in Dublin with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern.
He said an IRA response to Gerry Adams' call for alternatives to violence was the next step in the peace process.
"We are still waiting for that response," he said.
Speaking at William and Mary College in Virginia, where he is vice-provost for international affairs, Mr Reiss said that he was receiving a "blow by blow account" of the election from the US consul to Northern Ireland, Dean Pitman.
Asked how he reacted to the election success of Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party, Mr Reiss said he wanted to meet with both parties to see if any agreement was possible.
"I want to hear some ideas from these people and then the US will do whatever it can."
Mr Reiss paid tribute to Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble, who lost his seat, and said he hoped to meet with Tony Blair in London.
Meanwhile, the British consulate in New York held an election party for 400 guests on Thursday night, despite a minor bombing attack on the front entrance to the building earlier that day.
The British consul general, Sir Philip Thomas, told guests there was never a real doubt in his mind that the event would go ahead.
Guests from all the major British political parties, as well as supporters from the Ulster Unionist Party and Sinn Féin, were led in a side entrance while police kept the front door cordoned off.
Sir Harold Evans, editor of The Week newspaper, congratulate them for turning up at the event. Guests included Jim Kelly, son of the New York police commissioner Ray Kelly.
Police are continuing to examine 17 security-camera videotapes to uncover the identity of the bomber, who caused minor damage to the building.
Forensic experts were yesterday examining fragments from two improvised gunpowder bombs thrown early on Thursday at the building in mid-Manhattan.