Iran lashed out Sunday at a reported US deadline of next summer set for the ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the European Union (EU)."The Americans had better look on the negotiations in their right position and watch the negotiators of the two sides do their jobs by themselves," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi told reporters at his weekly news briefing.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was quoted as saying on April 14 that Washington would only wait and see the bilateral nuclear negotiations going on until next summer. "I don't want to put a timeline on it, but I think we probably want to make an assessment this summer and see where we are and see how far we've gone," Rice was quoted.

Rejecting the deadline, Asefi said Iran also opposes any prolongation of the talks and is trying to come to a quick conclusion.

"Tehran will not let the Europeans waste any time, and I hope that the new round of talks next Tuesday will yield a conclusion," Asefi said.

The United States accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons covertly and supports a referral of Iran's case to the United Nations Security Council.

However, Washington has softened its stance recently and showed willingness to support EU's diplomatic efforts.

Iran, rejecting the US accusation as "politically motivated", has held five rounds of nuclear talks with the EU since it suspended its highly sensitive uranium enrichment activities in November 2004 to "build confidence".

The ongoing negotiations have been stalled with uncompromising stances of both sides.

The EU insists Iran should halt all its work on building nuclear fuel cycles, while Tehran claims it will never give up its legitimate rights to nuclear technology.

(Xinhua News Agency April 18, 2005)