Brussels  - The European Union is still awaiting Tehran's official response to an offer of new talks to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear activities, but an answer may be coming on Monday, EU diplomats said Saturday.

Two weeks after the Geneva talks involving top officials from Iran, the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany, it was being pointed out that no specific deadline had been set for Tehran to respond.

At the time, on July 19, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana had said the EU was expecting a "clear answer" from Tehran "in about two weeks' time."

The offer on the table is for far-reaching economic cooperation with Iran, including in the field of civilian-sector nuclear power, in return for a pledge by Tehran to refrain from uranium enrichment activities.

Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on Tehran to answer the international community soon on the offer.

In the latest issue of the weekly Der Spiegel magazine, Steinmeier said Tehran should stop playing for time and quickly provide a "usable answer." Otherwise, he warned, the sanctions against Iran could be tightened.

"Nobody wants to continue on this path. But the key is in Tehran's hands," the German foreign minister told the magazine. (dpa)