Major powers asked Iran on July 19 to respond within two weeks to their offer to hold off on imposing more UN sanctions if Tehran would freeze any expansion of its nuclear work. Iran has dismissed the idea of having a deadline to reply.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said this week that Iran would press ahead with its nuclear path.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana - who leads nuclear talks with Iran for the six major powers - will not be looking at his watch or declare Iran has missed the deadline if it does not reply by Saturday, EU diplomats said, but the West wants a reply in the next week.


"One should not focus too much on Saturday," one EU official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "If it's not Saturday but next week, we'll not make a big fuss about it. What matters is to get a clear answer quickly, in the very coming days."

An EU diplomat said: "We are continuing our double approach of dialogue and pressure. If dialogue does not work, we could continue with additional pressure ... at the UN or EU level."

Agencies