WASHINGTON, July 10: The United States said on Monday that the six weeks in the run-up to the G8 summit this weekend was ‘quite long enough’ for Iran to consider an international offer to defuse a nuclear standoff.

On the eve of a meeting between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Tehran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in Brussels, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the time had come for Iran to make a decision.

“Six weeks is quite long enough to consider that,” Mr McCormack told reporters.

The international offer, presented to Tehran by Mr Solana on June 6 on behalf of the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany, offers economic and other incentives in exchange for a pledge to suspend uranium enrichment.

The West, in particular the United States, wants Tehran to respond before a Group of Eight (G8) summit in Saint Petersburg from July 15, but hardline President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has said Tehran will not respond before Aug 22. —AFP