US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday that Iran should respond by July 15 to a package offer presented to it by the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany.

"It simply makes sense for the world to have some kind of indication of whether Iran intends to pursue the negotiated track or not," Rice said at a joint press conference with Turkey's foreign minister Abdullah Gul.

"But if, indeed, Iran is trying to stall, it's not going to work. The international community has said that we need to get an answer, an indication of where Iran is going with this. We need to know if the path of negotiation is open or not," Rice 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.

Also on Iranian Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that a meeting between Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana over Iran's nuclear issue, originally scheduled for Wednesday, had been postponed, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Mottaki made the declaration on the sidelines of a welcoming ceremony of Armenian President Robert Kocharian who is in Iran on a two-day official visit.

"There will be no negotiations between Larijani and Solana today," the minister was quoted as saying, without giving further details.

Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Solana had been due to explore whether Iran is ready to respond to a package agreed on by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany over its nuclear issue, which demands Iran suspend uranium enrichment in return for economic and political incentives.

Meanwhile, an EU statement said that Larijani would meet Solana on Thursday and on July 11.

"I was surprised to hear that Dr. Ali Larijani has decided at the last minute to postpone his trip to Brussels as previously agreed with him to take place today," Solana said in the statement.

"I have just spoken to Dr. Larijani on the phone and we decided to meet tomorrow in Brussels, then continue the discussions on July 11," the statement added. 

On June 6, Solana presented Iran with the package, which includes both incentives aimed at persuading Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and possible sanctions if Iran does not comply. The United States has accused Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons under a civilian front, a charge categorically denied by Tehran.

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2006)