"The purely procedural document that we have seen does not provide the response that was hoped-for to the meeting of July 19 in Geneva," foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said.

He was referring to a letter delivered to the six powers, the United States Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, during a meeting with Iranian negotiator Said Jalili on Tuesday.

The two-week deadline set on July 19 "expired four days ago and we regret that neither talks between Mr Jalili and (EU foreign policy chief Javier) Solana, nor this document have provided the response," Nadal said.

The six powers were to hold telephone talks at 1115 GMT Wednesday on the Iranian response.

The United States and its allies were to press for new UN Security Council sanctions, according to US media reports. But Russia and China could resist the move, diplomats said.

The United States says that Iran is a weapons proliferation threat, while Iran insists that its nuclear research is for peaceful purposes.

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