But the diplomats said the 25-page document does not directly suggest an enrichment moratorium, even after negotiations start.
Instead, it includes only a vague reference to a willingness to discuss all aspects of the country's nuclear program, said the diplomats who spoke from two European capitals and asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the confidential proposal.
They said the reaction among the six powers -- France, Germany, Britain, Russia, the United States, and China -- was one of disappointment and even anger that Tehran would not consider a suspension of uranium enrichment as a precondition for any new talks.
A day after the US administration issued a guarded assessment of Iran's long-awaited response, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said yesterday it was unsatisfactory, and was missing a ``decisive sentence" on whether it would halt uranium enrichment.
``We are still examining it, but from everything that I hear we cannot be satisfied," Merkel said in an interview with N24 television. ``What we expected is not set down here: `We are suspending our uranium enrichment, we are coming to the negotiating table and we will then talk about the chances and possibilities for Iran.' "
The comments by Merkel, a close ally of President Bush, reflect the increasing frustration of the United States and its key European allies who have been forced to wait for several weeks for an Iranian response.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush spoke yesterday with Merkel and Prime Minister Romano Prodi of Italy about Iran, but Perino would not say whether the leaders were of the same mind about what should be done next.
The US State Department has said that Iran considered its proposal to be a serious one and promised to review it, as did the five other nations that offered political and economic rewards to Tehran July 1 if it agreed to a freeze enrichment.
But the diplomats suggested that despite assurances of a serious review, the capitals involved found little of substance in the document.
