The United States dismissed yesterday Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's apparent rejection of talks with the United States and said that his comments are ambiguous.

"He (Khamenei) has not dismissed. But if you take a look, the comments are ambiguous," White House spokesman John Snow said at a briefing.

Snow said that the United States is waiting for an official response from Iran.

"We have seen people provide different kinds of answers, sometimes different responses between morning and afternoon. We are waiting for a consistent, official response," Snow said, adding that such a response would be conveyed through Iran's chief negotiator Ali Larijani to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

The White House response came after Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said earlier Tuesday that Iran does not need negotiations with the United States over its nuclear program and negotiations with the United States would be of no use to Iran.

However, Khamenei, who has the final say on Iran's state matters, did not speak clearly about his position on the package offered to Iran by the United States and other countries with both incentives and possible penalties.