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.

After Russia said it was "very close" to Western views on Iran, which favour diplomatic action to curb its atomic project, Germany, France and Britain began drafting a referral resolution to submit to the IAEA board, EU diplomats said.

"It's short. It calls for (IAEA director-general Mohamed) ElBaradei to report Iran to the Security Council," one diplomat said, asking for anonymity.

Moscow, with a $1 billion stake building Iran's first atomic reactor, and Beijing, reliant on Iranian oil imports, have so far thwarted such a step by the IAEA board of governors.

However, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said yesterday he was confident China and Russia would back the EU in sending the issue to the Security Council. President Vladimir Putin signalled a change when he said after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Moscow: "As for Russia, and Germany and our European partners and the United States, we have very close positions on the Iranian problem."

It was the clearest hint yet that Moscow, which as Iran's main energy partner wields the greatest potential foreign leverage over Tehran, was losing patience with the Islamic republic since it resumed nuclear fuel research last week. However, Putin also warned the crisis should be solved "without abrupt, erroneous steps" a possible nod to concerns of some that a rapid push towards UN sanctions could backfire.

There was no immediate comment from China. Beijing said last week that resorting to the Security Council might "complicate the issue", citing Iran's threat to hit back by halting snap UN inspections of its atomic plants. Some analysts have said China could eventually relent at least abstaining from a vote if Russian opposition ended.

Diplomats said the resolution drafting was at an early stage and the West, keen on broad unanimity for referral, would sound out developing states on the IAEA board like South Africa, Libya and Cuba seen up to now as likely to vote No.

Iran, the world's fourth-largest exporter of crude oil, has warned that any attempt to isolate it could drive up world energy prices, damaging industrialised economies.