The 35-nation board of the UN nuclear watchdog is holding a crunch meeting todya to consider whether to report Iran to the UN Security Council over its disputed nuclear programme.
ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Aliasghar Soltaniyeh at the beginning of the board of governors meeting in Vienna
Diplomats predicted a majority in favour of a resolution drafted by the council's five permanent powers - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - and Germany to step up pressure on Tehran over its alleged atomic drive.
But as the meeting continued this afternoon, US intelligence chief John Negroponte said his country does not believe Iran has a nuclear weapon at this time. However, he said the danger Tehran will acquire them is of major concern.
Mr Negroponte, national director of intelligence, was speaking to a US Senate committee looking into the range of threats to the United States.
"We judge that Tehran probably does not yet have a nuclear weapon and probably has not yet produced or acquired the necessary fissile material," Mr Negroponte said in prepared testimony to the Senate intelligence committee.
The battle for votes among the 35 nations on the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) came as Iran's envoy said involving the council would be "a historical mistake", while his US counterpart said only "referral will get Iran off its dangerous path".
Diplomats said the resolution, asking the IAEA to engage the Security Council, would pass by a solid majority after the EU enlisted Russia and China's backing for the move.
But the rare show of unity among the five permanent council members emerged only after the EU agreed not to consider action against Iran, such as sanctions, until after the IAEA's chief submits a conclusive report to a regular March 6th board meeting.
The compromise was struck to win over board members, mainly a large bloc of developing nations, who like Moscow and Beijing, wanted to give Iran at least another month to resolve suspicions that it is secretly working to build atomic bombs.
The resolution asks the IAEA board to "convey" to the council a batch of agency reports citing a pattern of Iranian delays and evasions in dealing with IAEA investigators, raising doubts about the nature of Iran's nuclear activities.
But Iran, which says it wants civilian nuclear energy not bombs, grew increasingly defiant as the crucial IAEA meeting neared.
Iran's parliament warned that under a recently enacted law it must resume uranium enrichment and end IAEA snap inspections of nuclear facilities, a pillar of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, if Tehran is sent to the Security Council.
"We would immediately stop voluntary cooperation with the Additional Protocol [spot-check regime]. It would mean many areas covered by inspections now would no longer be covered. This would a serious historical mistake," Iranian IAEA envoy Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh said at the Vienna-based IAEA yesterday.
If put in Security Council hands, he said, Iran would undertake "industrial-scale enrichment", well beyond a pilot project to purify uranium into nuclear fuel whose revival after a two-and-a-half year moratorium prompted the EU to seek a UN crackdown.
US Ambassador Gregory Schulte told the board.: "We seek to support the ongoing IAEA efforts with the weight of Security Council authority. We seek a carefully calibrated approach in which the Council applies escalating measures on Iran's regime,"
"By reporting Iran to the Security Council, we will increase the diplomatic tools available to the international community. Let me be clear: we are not now seeking sanctions or other punitive measures against Iran," he said.
Speaking on behalf of EU powers, German Ambassador Herbert Honsowitz said Security Council engagement did not mean that diplomacy on Iran was over.
"This is not about abandoning diplomatic efforts ... Now is not the time for Iranian threats to unilaterally end co-operation with the agency in breach of its obligations. The need is for Iran to create conditions for resumption of negotiations."