Iran dismisses G8 concerns over vote crackdown

Iran played down Saturday G8 concerns about its recent crackdown on dissident and its nuclear program while a group of Iranians protested outside the German embassy in Tehran over the murder of an Egyptian woman.

At a press conference, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran is preparing a new package of "political, security and international" issues to put to the West.

"The package can be a good basis for talks with the West. The package will contain Iran's stances on political, security and international issues," Mottaki told a news conference.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday that the Group of Eight major powers would give Iran until September to accept negotiations over its nuclear ambitions or else face tougher sanctions.

In Iran's first reaction to Sarkozy's statement at the G8 summit in Italy, Mottaki said the Islamic state had not received "any new message" from the summit.

"We have not received any new message from the G8. But based on the news we have received, they had different views on different issues which did not lead to a unanimous agreement in some areas," Mottaki said.

U.S. President Barack Obama warned Iran on Friday that the world would not wait indefinitely for it to end its nuclear defiance, saying Tehran had until September to comply or else face consequences.

Protest outside German embassy

Meanwhile in Tehran witnesses said a group of hardliners gathered to throw eggs at the German embassy in protest over last week's murder of a pregnant Egyptian woman in a German court.

"There were around 150 students and they threw eggs at the main gate of the German embassy," said the witness. "The students chanted 'Death to Germany' and 'Death to Europe'" the witness added.

They also wrote "Angela, the Nazi" on a sidewall of the embassy, referring to German chancellor Angela Merkel.

On Friday, Iran had summoned Herbert Honsowitz, Berlin's ambassador to Tehran, and protested against the murder and urged Berlin to step up efforts to protect the rights of the minorities there.

There were around 150 students and they threw eggs at the main gate of the German embassy

Witness

Marwa al-Sherbini, 31, mother of a three-year-old and three months pregnant, was stabbed 18 times by a Russian-born German man she was testifying against during a July 1 appeal hearing in Dresden.

Her killer also stabbed her husband, who German police then mistook for the attacker and shot in the leg, prosecutors said.

Muslim groups have dubbed Sherbini as the "veil martyr" and her killing drew thousands of mourners at her funeral Monday in Alexandria, Egypt.

German prosecutors said the unemployed 28-year-old attacker, identified only as Alex W., was appealing against a conviction for insulting Sherbini by calling her an "Islamist," "terrorist" and "whore" when she asked him to make space for her son to go on the swings at a playground in Dresden.