The United States urged yesterday Iran to respond to an offer presented to
it by the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany early June
and insisted that the six weeks in the run-up to the Group of Eight summit in
mid-July was "quite long enough."
"I think any reasonable person would say six weeks is quite long enough to
consider that," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a briefing.
"They have had plenty of time. They have had plenty of time at this point to
provide an answer to the question that was put before them," McCormack said.
Leaders of the Group of Eight major industrial countries are expected to
begin the annual meeting in Russia's Saint Petersburg on July 15.
The United States has repeatedly urged Iran to respond to the offer
designated to try to solve Iran's thorny nuclear issue in weeks rather than
months, and threatened that it will seek United Nations Security Council
sanctions if Iran does not show cooperation.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Iran will make a response to
the offer on Aug. 22 and the United States has dismissed this as too late.
