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The European Union said Friday it will prod Iran to clarify questions about its lukewarm response to a package of economic incentives designed to get the country to suspend uranium enrichment.

Tehran's response, contained in a 20-page document presented Tuesday, has been judged insufficient by some of the nations that drafted the package. French President Jacques Chirac termed it a "little ambiguous" on Friday.

Iran's refusal to mention the key demand to suspend uranium enrichment work brings it closer to possible UN economic and diplomatic sanctions.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said for the EU to be clear on Tehran's response "we would like to have some talks with the leadership of Iran. We have to work to understand it properly."

Mr. Solana said he has had two telephone conversations with Ali Larijani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, since Tuesday. He said he needed more talks "before we can come out with a complete response" to Iran's views on the way forward.

He spoke after a meeting of EU foreign ministers on an expanded UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon. The meeting also discussed Iran, briefly.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said Friday that his government continued to pursue a political resolution of the dispute, saying that "talk about sanctions is premature."

Earlier, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Iran wants guarantees that it won't face UN sanctions before it agrees to restart negotiations over its nuclear program and the offer of economic incentives. He called that condition unacceptable.

"I have always said that we must begin negotiations without preconditions ... That is why Iran must understand we cannot come to the negotiating table when every day new centrifuges are being constructed," Mr. Steinmeier said.

But Iran reiterated it will not suspend uranium enrichment as a precondition for talks on its nuclear program despite Western insistence it do so to meet a demand of the UN Security Council.

Although there was no comment from Iran's government Friday, hardline cleric Ahmad Khatami said Iran was open to negotiations but would not bow to threats.

"The spirit of Iran's response is 'yes' to logical dialogue without precondition. No one can talk to Iran with the language of threats," Mr. Khatami said during his Friday sermon broadcast on Iran's state radio.

He urged Russia and China, which also joined in the incentives offer, not to "fall in the trap of the U.S."

The UN Security Council gave Iran until Aug. 31 to suspend enrichment activities or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions.

Mr. Steinmeier welcomed UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's plans to visit Iran in the coming days and said he hoped Mr. Annan would make it clear that the international community expected Iran to come back to negotiations without conditions.