Iran's chief nuclear negotiator today warned against any move to report or refer Iran to the UN Security Council over its nuclear standoff with the West.
Top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani. Iran is willing to show flexibility in solving Tehran's nuclear standoff, but is not happy with threats of force to resolve the problem
"We consider any referral or report of Iran to the Security Council as the end of diplomacy," Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying by state television.
He was speaking after the five permanent members of the Security Council agreed today that the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), should report to the council this week on what Iran must do to co-operate with the agency.
The agreement stopped short of recommending a formal referral of Iran to the Security Council, where it could face economic sanctions.
But Iranian officials have previously said any move to inform or report its case to the council would lead it to scale back co-operation with UN inspectors and resume uranium enrichment - the most sensitive phase of the atomic fuel cycle.
The foreign ministers of China, Russia, the United States, France and Britain, plus Germany and the European Union, said the IAEA must decide to bring Iran's case before the council when the agency holds an emergency meeting on Thursday.
The tough action against Tehran - the culmination of more than three years of failed efforts to find a diplomatic solution - follows Iran's decision last month to resume atomic research and development after a break of more than two years.
The London meeting statement again called on Iran to halt atomic research, which has led to Iran removing UN seals at a uranium enrichment facility that could be used to make bomb-grade material.