Iran has threatened to end its voluntary co-operation with the United Nations over its nuclear programme if Western countries carry out their threat to refer Tehran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
The United States and the European Union's three biggest powers said yesterday that talks with Iran to curb its nuclear programme were at an impasse and that Tehran should be brought before the Security Council.
"Obviously if Iran failed to comply, the Security Council would then consider sanctions," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said after Washington joined the EU3 in calling for an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
However he countered speculation that military action was being considered. "No one is talking about invading Iran or taking military action against Iran," he said.
Speaking after a meeting in Washtington today with Chancellor Angela Merkel, US President George W Bush said a nuclear-armed Iran was unacceptable. "The reason it's unacceptable is because Iran armed with a nuclear weapon poses a grave threat to the security of the world," he said.
The council could impose international sanctions on the world's fourth-biggest oil exporter over suspicions it is trying to build a nuclear bomb, but the United States said there would be no immediate move for such punishment.
Iran, which says its nuclear programmes are solely for the peaceful generation of electricity, declared itself unworried by the threat of a referral to the United Nations' top forum. But the United States intensified the pressure by refusing to rule out a military attack.
Accusing the Islamic republic of defying the international community, the western powers said Iran had consistently breached its commitments and failed to show the world its nuclear activities were peaceful.
"Our talks with Iran have reached a dead end," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after meeting his British and French counterparts and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Berlin.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joined their call for an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency to discuss what she called Iran's "dangerous defiance" in restarting uranium enrichment work.
"That meeting would be to report Iran's noncompliance with its safeguard obligations to the UN Security Council," Ms Rice told a news conference in Washington.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said such a step would have "consequences" for the West.
"The government will be obliged to end all of its voluntary measures if sent to the UN council," state news agency IRNA quoted him saying.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator reiterated his country's stance that its nuclear plans were for peaceful means. "We have already declared that our intention is to do nuclear research, it has nothing to do with enrichment," Ali Larijani told CNN.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Mr Larijani told him that despite the collapse in relations, Iran was still interested in "serious and constructive negotiations" with the EU3.
Mr Annan said the issue should remain for now before the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna and only once that process was exhausted could it go to the council.