TEHRAN, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian parliament member said on Saturday that a deadline will only impede progress of negotiations over the country's nuclear program, the English-language satellite channel Press TV reported.
"There is no need for a two-week deadline for Iran to give an answer to the G5+1 package," said Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the Majlis (Parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Commission.
"Negotiations mean finding a new way to reach agreement on the nuclear standoff," he said.
Boroujerdi praised U.S. participation in the latest round of talks over Iran's nuclear program.
"In a major political decision, Americans decided for the first time to attend the Geneva negotiations," he said. "That was a major development in (resolving the standoff on) Iran's nuclear program."
"It was an achievement for the Islamic Republic of Iran that the United States sat at the negotiation table without Tehran suspending its nuclear enrichment program," he added.
Boroujerdi echoed remarks by head of Iran's Expediency Council and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Rafsanjani on Friday rejected a deadline for Tehran to respond to an offer of incentives by six major countries aimed to persuade Iran to halt uranium enrichment.
On June 14, European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Javier Solana handed the offer of incentives to the Iranian authorities on behalf of France, Britain, Russia, China, the United States, as well as Germany, in a bid to coax Tehran to halt its disputable enrichment activities.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and Solana held talks on July 19 on Iran's nuclear program in Geneva, in the presence of U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns and senior diplomats from China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany.
Western diplomats said after the meeting that Iran has given no clear answer to the package of incentives for suspending its nuclear program, but the Islamic Republic was asked to response within two weeks.
