WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States is awaiting a formal U.N. deadline before seeking any new measures to coerce or punish Iran over its disputed nuclear program, the State Department says.

“We’re looking at the Aug. 31 date and I think once we get there, we’ll begin to take action,” State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said Thursday.

The U.N. Security Council is set to take up the Iran case on Aug. 31, and could soon consider a new resolution to impose economic or other sanctions on Tehran. The U.S. has long favored sanctions.

The U.N. Security Council gave Iran until the end of August to stop enriching uranium, a key component of both nuclear weapons and the peaceful nuclear energy that Tehran says it wants. The suspension is a precondition before Iran could bargain with European nations and the United States over a package offering Iran economic and other incentives if it gives up portions of its nuclear program that the West fears could produce a bomb.

Iran made a counteroffer to the proposal Tuesday that ignores the U.N. demand on uranium.

Germany said Thursday that Iran’s response appears unsatisfactory, and Gallegos repeated the U.S. assessment that the response “falls short” of U.N. conditions.

Meanwhile, two senior diplomats who have been briefed on the Iranian response told The Associated Press that the U.S. and other world powers will likely reject Tehran’s terms.

The diplomats said the 25-page Iranian document does not suggest an enrichment moratorium once negotiations start and includes only a vague reference to a willingness to discuss all aspects of Iran’s nuclear program.

The diplomats, who spoke from two European capitals, asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the confidential proposal.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said President Bush spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel by phone Thursday about Iran and the diplomatic effort in reaction to Tehran’s response.

Perino would not say whether Bush agreed with Merkel that Iran’s response was “unsatisfactory.” And she would not say whether the two leaders agreed on what should be done next.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke Thursday with diplomatic counterparts from the European Union, Russia and Germany, all participants in the international outreach to Iran, but Gallegos provided no details of the conversations.

Despite cooperation so far from Russia and China, which, like the U.S., hold veto power at the U.N. Security Council, it is not clear that those nations would agree to impose harsh sanctions on Iran once the deadline passes.

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Associated Press Writers George Jahn in Vienna, Austria, and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

AP-ES-08-24-06 1800EDT