Iran delivered a message to the EU on Tuesday as it faced a fresh ultimatum from six major powers to accept an incentives package to freeze nuclear work or face more UN sanctions. But Tehran insisted the message delivered to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana was not a response to the latest offer drawn up by the powers to end the five-year crisis over Tehran's nuclear drive.
"The message delivered today is not Iran's response to the six countries," a source with the Supreme National Security Council told AFP.
Britain had warned that the lack of a positive answer from Tehran by the end of Tuesday would leave the powers with "no choice" but to ask the UN Security Council to take further punitive measures.
The United Nations has imposed three sets of sanctions against Iran for its defiance and is mulling a fourth round of measures. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi on Monday dismissed the idea of a deadline as "media speculation" and insisted that negotiations were an "ongoing process".
