Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that it was premature to discuss sanctions against Iran.

"It is too early to speak about sanctions against Iran," the president told a final press conference of a Group of Eight (G8) summit.

The summit host said the G8 countries still want a peaceful and diplomatic settlement to the Iranian nuclear issue.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the G8 leaders said they supported the decision to return the Iranian nuclear issue to the United Nations Security Council.

The leaders also urged Tehran to respond quickly and positively to incentives offered on June 6.

In June, the United States, China, Britain, France, Russia and Germany tabled to Iran an incentive package to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue.

The Iranian government had said Iran would respond to the incentives by Aug. 22.