Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday called on Iran to accept an international package of incentives aimed at defusing the crisis over Tehran's nuclear works.
"We would really like our Iranian partners to accept the proposals," said Putin, according to the AP. He added he would like this to happen before next week's Group of Eight industrialized nations summit in Russia.
China also urged Iran to respond quickly to the package of incentives. "We hope Iran can respond to the package at an early date," said Jiang Yu, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman. "The Iranian issue is at an important stage and the urgent task is to help resume the talks as soon as possible."
Russia and China have opposed sanctions against Iran, but Western nations are pushing Moscow and Beijing to support them on U.N. Security Council action if Tehran refuses the package of incentives.
Iranian officials have said they would not respond to the six-power offer before mid-August.
