Russia and West near agreement over Iran

EUROPEAN powers yesterday began drafting a resolution to have Iran referred to the UN Security Council next month over its contentious nuclear work, diplomats said, after Russia and the West neared agreement on strategy.

Britain's Foreign Office said Britain, Germany and France would call for an emergency meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog's 35-nation board of governors in Vienna on February. A vote on sending Iran to the Security Council could be held then.

Iran's resumption of research that could advance a quest for civilian atomic energy or bombs has sparked a flurry of Western diplomacy in pursuit of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) referral to the Council, which could impose sanctions. Diplomats said a London meeting yesterday of permanent Council members Britain, France, Russia, China and the United States, along with Germany, sought to bridge differences over Iran to enable an emergency IAEA session and vote.