Iran to offer its own nuke proposals

"We have opened the package, and we are studying it, and afterwards we will officially reply to the Europeans," Mottaki was quoted as saying following talks with Palestinian foreign minister Mahmud al-Zahar.

"We hope ... a shuttle diplomacy will be started for the Islamic republic's proposals in the form of amendments or counter-proposals to be studied seriously by the Europeans," he added.

"We are in favour of discussions which are fair, unbiased and without preconditions, that will result in an understanding satisfactory for all sides," he said.

Asked if a suspension of uranium enrichment was raised in the international package, he said: "We can not outline details of the proposals, since we have not announced the content of the package."

Mottaki gave no timing for Iran's official response. "We have not defined a deadline for our reply," he added.

Western powers on Friday gave Iran just weeks to respond to a package of incentives to suspend its nuclear enrichment programmeme.

The offer, which EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana personally delivered to Tehran earlier this week, was prepared by Germany, France and Britain and is backed by the EU, United States, Russia and China.

President Bush said that if Iran did not stop enrichment, "there must be a consequence."

"We've given the Iranians a limited period of time -- you know, weeks not months -- to digest a proposal to move forward. And if they choose not to verifiably suspend their programme, then there will be action taken in the UN Security Council," Bush told a news conference.

European Union president Austria earlier said Iran had until next month's Group of Eight (G8) summit to consider the offer.

Asked what would happen if Iran did not accept, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily: "This will be discussed within the framework of the G8. Iran has until the world economic summit in July to think it over."

The G8 summit will be held in St. Petersburg, Russia, on July 15-17. Iran's nuclear ambitions are expected to be one of the main topics of discussion.