"I do not think that we are about to be confronted with Iranian nuclear arms," D'Alema said in an interview on the private Channel 7 station.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that his country would respond in August to an offer by world powers of a package of incentives in exchange for the suspension of Tehran's controversial nuclear enrichment program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in Rome Wednesday night that US President George W. Bush "cannot be and should not be" impatient for an answer from Iran.

The five permanent Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany have made a suspension of enrichment a non-negotiable precondition to their proposed incentives package.

The offer, presented to Iran on June 6, involves incentives and multilateral talks if Iran agrees to a temporarily halt the sensitive nuclear activity and cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iran insists its nuclear program is a peaceful effort to produce energy, but the United States and its allies suspect the program is a cover for the development of atomic weapons.