Brussels: Iran's chief nuclear negotiator rebuffed Western pressure on Tuesday for an immediate answer to a package of incentives to suspend uranium enrichment ahead of crucial talks with the European Union.
The US, which accuses Tehran of secretly working to build nuclear weapons, has demanded a clear Iranian response before next weekend's summit of Group of Eight industrialised nations in Russia or face possible UN Security Council action.
But Ali Larijani told reporters before he met EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana for a second round of talks in five days: "We have expressed our view regarding the deadline. We are not used to acting before thinking."
Iran has said it will reply in late August to a package of technology, economic and political sweeteners, and an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman suggested its full answer would only emerge later during detailed negotiations on the offer.
"Iran's answer will not be given suddenly. The answers will be given during the negotiations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi was quoted as saying by state radio, adding Tehran saw "ambiguities" in all three areas of the package.
Outside the talks, some 60 supporters of the exiled Iranian opposition waved banners urging "UN sanctions to stop the game of the mullahs", insisting Tehran was not interested in solving the dispute and was merely playing for time.
Diplomats say Russia and China, both veto-holders in the UN Security Council, are wary about imposing sanctions on Tehran and so acknowledge there is little pressure on Iran to give an early reply to the offer presented by Solana on June 6.
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