Europe wants UN to force Iran into nuclear freeze

European powers are pressing ahead with plans to refer Iran to the UN Security Council - hoping to force Tehran to resume a nuclear freeze - despite lacking support from China and Russia.

A senior Foreign Office official said the Europeans intended to use the Security Council to bring to bear "gradual sustained pressure over time" on Iran.

"Security Council involvement will have an impact - it has weight and authority. A country cannot ignore it without cost," said the official, who chaired talks in London on Monday attended by the five permanent members of the security council as well as Germany.

Britain, France and Germany want the Security Council to oblige Iran to return to a freeze on enriching uranium, by making such a requirement legally binding. "After that, we can explore a range of other measures down the track," the official said.

Economic sanctions have so far been ruled out as an option to punish Iran for ending a two-year voluntary moratorium on enriching uranium at its Natanz site.

The Iranian move last week prompted Britain, France and Germany to break off talks, heralding a new phase of confrontation.

But the military option is not on the table. "We are all committed to resolving this by diplomatic means," the British official stressed.

However, he acknowledged it was not yet known whether Russia and China - allies of Iran on the Security Council - will back the Europeans' plan to refer Tehran to the council at an emergency session of the UN nuclear watchdog next month.

Although Britain hopes to build a consensus for the move, the referral is expected to require a vote by the 35-nation governors' board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on which such nations as Syria, Belarus and Cuba sit. "A great deal of diplomacy" was still needed before the meeting on 2 February, the official said.

The French Foreign Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, said yesterday, before heading to Russia for talks, that the credibility of the IAEA and the entire non-proliferation system was at stake over the Iran issue.

UN officials said the main challenge for the Europeans, who are acting with US backing, is to get Iran on to the UN Security Council agenda, the bottom rung of a ladder that could eventually lead to punitive action.

In the past, China has successfully blocked attempts to refer North Korea to the council. Russia, which like China is opposed to economic sanctions being imposed on Iran, remains hopeful that Tehran will accept a compromise solution involving the enrichment of uranium from Iran by the Russians. But Britain believes the Iranians are "playing with the Russians for tactical reasons," the senior British official said.

The question overshadowing the crisis is whether Iran craves international respectability more than nuclear power, amid fears that the threat to refer the Islamic republic before the Security Council could be counter-productive.

The IAEA chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, said that Iran's threat to end co-operation with UN snap inspections would "backfire" by fuelling suspicions about Iranian intentions, "and that will hurt Iran".

British diplomats meanwhile played down Iran's threat to use oil as a bargaining tool - by suspending supplies in case of referral to the Security Council - arguing that Iranian allies such as China could be hurt by the move.

Mr ElBaradei has fixed a deadline of 6 March, when the IAEA's next regular board meeting is scheduled, for Iran to come clean on the full extent of its nuclear programme. The Europeans and Britain believe Iran has been working on a nuclear weapons programme under cover of a civilian programme. However, Iran insists its intentions are peaceful. The Europeans clearly hope Iran does not want to be isolated, and it will yield to pressure. Iran's offer of more talks was rejected as "vacuous" by Britain yesterday.