Iran to reply to nuclear offer in August

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran has said it will take until the second half of August to respond to an international offer of incentives in return for the suspension of sensitive nuclear work.

"They need to respond to the ambiguities we have identified," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said of the offer, drawn up by the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany and presented to Iran on June 6.

"These questions must be answered by the decision-makers. It is not Mr Solana who can answer," he said of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who is due to meet Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani on Tuesday.

"We will respond in the last week of Mordad," Mottaki added, referring to the Iranian month which ends on August 22.

Tehran is facing mounting international pressure to show before the Group of Eight (G8) summit from July 15-17 that it is ready to accept the offer from the six powers.

But Mottaki warned world leaders not to rush to take any decision in the absence of a reply.

"We won't be attending the G8 meeting, so any decision taken without us being present, if half-baked, could hurt the positive atmosphere that has been created," Mottaki told reporters.

The Islamic republic has insisted it is serious about defusing the nuclear standoff, but has so far indicated that it is unwilling to suspend its uranium enrichment activities.

Iran says it wants to enrich uranium only to make civilian reactor fuel, although the process can be extended to make nuclear weapons.