TEHRAN: A defiant President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday said Iran was ready for more sanctions after global powers pressed the Islamic republic to accept an offer of face-to-face nuclear talks before a key UN meeting in late September.

"No one can impose sanctions on Iran anymore. We welcome sanctions. We have given our proposed package," Ahmadinejad told reporters after a speech in parliament urging MPs to endorse his 21-member cabinet line-up.

Senior diplomats from the six world powers, known as P5+1, and the EU, met in Frankfurt on Wednesday urging Iran to accept their offer of direct talks.

Earlier, foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said Iran will not bow to "threat and pressure" in meeting any deadline set by world powers.

"We are a nation which believes in dialogue and interaction, but if they (six world powers) want to set up a deadline using threat and pressure, it is not acceptable," Ghashghavi was quoted on Thursday as saying by a local news agency.

Iran insists its nuclear work is peaceful but Western countries suspect that Tehran wants atomic weapons. The UN Security Council has slapped three rounds of sanctions on the country, and pressure is growing for more.

A day ahead of the gathering in Germany, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili was quoted as saying that Tehran had updated its own package of proposals and was ready for fresh talks with world powers.

But the White House and EU maintain they had no official notification from Iran on any new proposals. LINK