"We expect to hear a clear and substantive Iranian response to these proposals at the planned meeting," the ministers said in a statement in Moscow, where they were preparing a July 15-17 summit in Saint Petersburg.

An official in the US delegation here said foreign ministers from the six countries behind the plan would gather a week later, on July 12, to evaluate Iran's response.

But, speaking at the United Nations in New York, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tehran would not respond before late August.

Iran's response "will be clear and substantive," he said. "But the proposed package contains questions and ambiguities which must be cleared."

He said that although Solana may be able to answer some questions, "I think the time until August is not a long time for submitting a response, and that's very natural and normal."

The plan, drawn up by the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany, offers Iran a package of incentives and multilateral talks in return for halting uranium enrichment, the process that makes fuel for reactors but also atom bomb material.

Iran insists that its nuclear programme is for generating electricity and that uranium enrichment is needed to provide the fuel. The European Union and the United States suspect Iran of hiding a military project.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said here there was unity among G8 countries -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States -- on the plan.

However, there was no talk of what might follow if Iran rejects the idea.

"We did not discuss anything beyond the offer which we all made in good faith. It is a positive offer and we expect a positive response in good faith," Lavrov said.

Earlier, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said that Iran could enter negotiations if it first accepted the international plan.

"If the response is negative... then it is clear that the international community will be firm and that, in particular, we will continue what we have begun in the Security Council," he added, referring to talks about possible sanctions against Iran.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week said that Moscow did not intend "to join any sort of ultimatum, which only pushes the situation into a dead end".

China and Russia, which have close diplomatic and economic ties with Iran, have generally taken a much softer line than the Western powers throughout the Iranian nuclear standoff.

Russia is building Iran's first atomic power station at Bushehr and has turned down US appeals to stop the contract.

The two nations only backed the incentives plan after ensuring there were no specific threats to impose UN sanctions against Iran if they did not comply with international demands.

Larijani reiterated Thursday that Iran saw "no deadline," and restated its insistence on developing nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

"Our nation is insisting on their rights, but they did not listen to us and referred our case to the Security Council for investigation, which was a bad thing to do," he said.

In February, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported Iran to the Security Council for hiding sensitive nuclear work and losing the confidence of the international community by breaking a suspension of enrichment activities.

"But recently they want to solve the case through negotiations, which is the right thing to do and we have welcomed it. If they are honest in their deeds, we hope to reach good results," Larijani added.

In Washington, visiting Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said the dispute was a "grave issue" of global concern, after talks with US President George W. Bush at the White House.

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