Picture: (AFP/File/Adem Altan)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki gives a press conference in Ankara. The United States and its European allies have pulled back from setting as a firm deadline for Iran to reply to the latest international offer of incentives for a freeze in its nuclear drive.

The United States and its European allies have pulled back from setting tomorrow as a firm deadline for Iran to reply to the latest international offer of incentives for a freeze in its nuclear drive.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says that there was no deadline and that his country had already replied. US and European officials have also shown more flexibility over the date.

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack says "I didn't count the days. It's coming up soon," when asked if August 2 was the deadline for Iran to accept or reject the package.

Not only did McCormack omit to mention a strict deadline, he also says there was "no indication of that" when asked whether Washington would pull the incentives offer off the table.

A diplomatic source in Brussels says an Iranian response could come in the next few days but insisted that the international community wanted an answer from Iran.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had given Iran two weeks to come up with a "serious" reply after an international meeting in Geneva on July 19 which saw Tehran broadly accused of stonewalling.

Washington broke with past policy by sending top diplomat William Burns to the talks in Geneva.

US officials say they wanted to encourage those in Iran who want to cooperate with the West to ease the economic and financial pressure caused by UN sanctions.

MRN-AFP