Iran on Thursday rejected any deadline to give a final response to a package put forward by world powers seeking a breakthrough in the nuclear crisis, and said it had already responded.
"The language of deadline-setting is not understandable to us. We gave them our response within a month as we said we would, now they have to reply to us," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Iran on July 4 handed world powers what it said was its "constructive and creative" response to their offer presented by European Union foreign policy envoy Javier Solana in June aimed at persuading Tehran to halt sensitive nuclear work.
However the U.S. insisted Wednesday Iran must give an answer by the weekend, warning of consequences of any defiance by the Islamic republic.