Foreign ministers from the Group of Eight industrialised nations meet in Moscow today to decide how best to persuade Iran to give a clear answer to proposals aimed at ending the standoff over its nuclear plans.
Iran has yet to reply to the June 6th offer of incentives from six world powers to persuade it to stop enriching uranium without oversight by international atomic energy monitors.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets British Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Secretary Margaret Beckett before the G8 Foreign Ministers Summit in Moscow today
The West fears Iran has a secret nuclear weapons programme, but Tehran says the enrichment is for atomic power generation.
The European Union and United States have called for an Iranian reply in "weeks, not months" after Iran said it would not reply until late August. They indicated they would like it before a summit of G8 leaders on July 15th-17th.
Russia, which has signed up to the incentive package but has supported Iran's nuclear energy programme, is pushing energy security as the main topic of the summit being held in the second city of St Petersburg. It is unlikely to want to see the main event overshadowed by Iran, a G8 source said.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the international community could not wait forever for a response while Iran developed its nuclear programs.
"The patience of the international community is not endless on this issue and the Iranians, of course, are continuing their activities, trying to create facts on the ground, and that's also not acceptable," Rice said in an interview with CNN in Afghanistan before flying to Moscow on Wednesday.