The European Union today submitted a motion that sets Iran up for referral to the UN Security Council - if accepted by a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, diplomats said.
The motion - a resolution to the IAEA's board of governors - calls on the 35-nation board to consider reporting Iran to the council.
As grounds it mentions non-compliance with provisions of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and suspicions that Iran's nuclear activities could threaten international peace and security, a diplomat said.
He demanded anonymity as a condition of reporting on the details of the closed IAEA meeting. Any resolution still has to be accepted by the board before it has validity. It was unclear when the text would be put up for a vote, but nations supporting it were in the majority, diplomats said.
The Security Council could impose sanctions if it determines that Iran violated the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, but veto-carrying council members Russia and China are certain to vote against such action, and the draft made no mention of sanctions, the diplomat said. Iran insists its nuclear activities have not violated the treaty.
Earlier, Javod Vaidi, a member of the Iranian delegation, urged the Americans and Europeans to back down on their push for Security Council action. "This is very dangerous to go in the way of confrontation," he told reporters.
China is considered immovable in its opposition to any Security Council involvement. But in recent days, European diplomats said they hoped to obtain Moscow's support, either now or later. Earlier in the day, however, Andrej Karasev, a member of the Russian mission to the IAEA, said his country's position was "the same as it was yesterday ... We are against" it.
"We are ready to work on the resolution ... which provides, I'd say, (a) mutually acceptable decision," he said. Diplomats said earlier that the Europeans were considering toning down their US-backed Security Council drive in hopes of enlisting Moscow's backing.
But from the reported tone of the draft submitted, it appeared the European Union decided to go with a harsher text, even at the risk of alienating Moscow. The Europeans for years avoided US demands for support in its push to haul Iran before the Security Council.
They reluctantly swung behind Washington last month, after Tehran effectively walked away from talks with Britain, France and Germany meant to reduce suspicions about its nuclear aims and began uranium conversion - a prelude to enrichment, which can make the fissile core for nuclear warheads or generate fuel for energy.
More than a third of IAEA board member nations meeting in Vienna oppose Security Council referral - an additional dilemma for the Europeans, because IAEA board meetings normally take decisions by consensus.
AP