G8 leaders said on Sunday that they supported the decision to return the Iranian nuclear issue to the UN Security Council and urged Tehran to respond positively to incentives made on June 6.

"We stand fully behind the far reaching proposals presented to Iran on June 6, 2006 on behalf of China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States of America with the support of the High Representative of the European Union for a long-term comprehensive agreement with Iran based on cooperation and mutual respect," a joint statement said.

The leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized countries said in the statement that they expected Iran to give a positive response to the proposals.

The leaders also expressed full solidarity with the decision made four days ago to raise the problem of Iranian nuclear projects again to the United Nations Security Council.

At that meeting in Paris, the foreign ministers from the above-mentioned six countries expressed their "profound disappointment" over the absence of any indication from Iranian that they would seriously respond the proposals.

"We support the Paris appeal to Iran to respond positively to the substantive proposals made on June 6, 2006," said the G8 leaders at their annual summit.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Iran would respond to the incentives by August 22.

(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2006)