MOSCOW - Russia on Friday rejected any talk for now of sanctions against
Iran and France warned against conflict with Tehran, raising doubt whether it will face swift penalties for not halting nuclear work by an August 31 deadline.

Responding to an offer of economic incentives to stop enriching uranium, Iran hinted to six world powers on Tuesday it could curb its program as a result of talks to implement the package -- but not as a precondition as they demand.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gestures while standing under a huge picture of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, June 3, 2006. Iran's reply to a big power offer of incentives to end sensitive nuclear work asks for a timeline to implement the package and specifics on security arrangements, two Iranian experts said in a Web site report on Thursday. [AP]

The reply seemed designed to crack the ramshackle united front of four Western powers and Russia and China behind the

UN Security Council deadline. The West sees Iran's nuclear work as a looming threat to peace. Russia and China do not.

"I know of no instances in world practice and previous experience in which sanctions have achieved their aim and proved effective," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters during a trip to Russia's far east.

"Moreover, I believe that the question is not so serious at the moment for the UN Security Council or the group of six to consider any introduction of sanctions. Russia stands for further political and diplomatic efforts to settle the issue."

Ivanov is regarded as close to President Vladimir Putin.

The Security Council passed a legally binding resolution on July 31 telling Iran to suspend its nuclear enrichment program within 30 days or risk sanctions.

Iran says it is enriching uranium solely to generate electricity. The West suspects the Iranian nuclear program is a front for building atom bombs.

US, French and German leaders said that Iran's 21-page response to the incentives offer was unsatisfactory because it did not specifically agree to stop purifying uranium.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Friday that Tehran's reply had touched on "many different elements, different from the ones that we had proposed."

"For that reason we will have to hold a dialogue session ... or a conversation with the ... Iranians to improve upon some of the expressions and meanings of the subject matter treated in its document," he told Spain's RNE state radio.

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