Trieste (Italy), June 26 (DPA) The world’s eight most powerful nations have given Iran until September to respond to a US offer of direct talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, G8 foreign ministers agreed Friday.
The G8’s leaders are to meet in New York in September on the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly, and that will be “an opportunity to verify whether Iran has responded to the international community’s negotiation offer,” Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said.

Italy currently holds the G8’s rotating presidency.

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the US said that they were “deeply concerned over proliferation risks posed by Iran’s nuclear programme”.

The G8 countries “recognise that Iran has the right to a civilian nuclear programme, but that comes with the responsibility to restore confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear activities,” the statement said.

They also called on Iran to end the crisis following its disputed June 12 presidential election peacefully.