Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that his country would formally respond to the six-nation package to resolve the nuclear dispute in mid-August.

"We are examining the proposals and hopefully we will give them our opinion in mid-August," Ahmadinejad said in a speech to a large crowd in western Iran.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on June 6 presented to Iran a new package endorsed by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany in a foreign ministerial meeting in Vienna on June 1.

The package offered Iran incentives if it suspends uranium enrichment, but also threatened with sanctions if Iran chooses not to comply.

Western countries have repeatedly asked Iran to give a positive response to the proposal by the end of June.

US President George W. Bush warned on Monday that Tehran must accept the package or face UN sanctions.

(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2006)