Iran 'has rejected' nuclear deal: French FM

Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Iran has in effect rejected a UN-brokered deal aimed at preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in an interview published on Sunday.

"In practice, the answer has almost been given and it is negative. That is a shame, a shame, a shame," Kouchner told the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot ahead of a visit to the region later this week.

The comments came as both the United States and Russia expressed frustration at Iran's failure to give an answer three weeks after it received the offer in high-level talks to defuse the stand-off.