The UN nuclear watchdog voted today to report Iran to the Security Council over suspicions it plans to build atomic weapons, and Tehran responded it would start enriching uranium fuel that can be used in bombs.
The Islamic Republic said it would immediately halt UN inspections of its nuclear facilities and pursue full-scale enrichment. It says it wants only nuclear power, not bombs, but claims a sovereign right to make uranium fuel on its own soil.
The British envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the majority vote by its governing board, initiated by the United States, EU powers, Russia and China, would crank up pressure on Tehran.
"This sends a further strong message to the Islamic Republic of Iran, a message of concern ... and a continuing lack of confidence in Iran's nuclear intentions," said Peter Jenkins, speaking on behalf of Germany, France and Britain.
"The board has decided the bring (the issue) to the attention of the Security Council ... so that after the board's next session (on March 6), the Security Council can if necessary bring additional (pressure) to bear on Iran," he told reporters.
Twenty-seven members voted in favour of the motion, five abstained and three voted against.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel likened Iran's nuclear programme to the threat posed by the Nazis in the early 1930s, saying the world must act to stop Tehran making an atomic bomb.
"We want, we must prevent Iran from developing its nuclear programme," Merkel told top policymakers from around the world in a speech to the annual Munich security conference.
Javad Vaeedi, deputy Iranian nuclear negotiator, told reporters after the vote in Vienna: "After this decision, Iran has to immediately bring into force its parliamentary law to suspend voluntary implementation of (the watchdog agency's) Additional Protocol (on snap inspections) and (pursue) commercial-scale enrichment which until today was under complete suspension."
The vote had been delayed by a day of haggling between EU powers and 15 developing states from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). These tried to soften the resolution for fear it would antagonise Iran and curb their own nuclear energy options.
"The threat (to restrict inspections) is on everyone's minds but we consider it blackmail and if we give in to that, there's no end to it," one Western diplomat said.
U.S. and EU leaders, aware that Russia, China and developing states wanted to avoid a showdown with the world's fourth biggest oil exporter, insisted that reporting Iran would not finish off diplomacy or trigger early sanctions.