Saturday, September 24 2005 10:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Vienna: The European Union yesterday (Sept 23, 2005) tabled a motion at the United Nations nuclear watchdog that puts off sending Iran to the UN Security Council but condemns it for violations of international atomic safeguards, a diplomat attending the agency's board meeting said.

The resolution cites Iran for failing to comply with nuclear non-proliferation safeguards but does not call explicitly for Tehran to be brought before the Security Council, which could impose sanctions, the diplomat said.

The resolution was put to the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which met in Vienna from 1700 GMT (2230 IST).

A move to the Security Council, which unlike the watchdog IAEA has enforcement powers, would be a major development almost three years into an IAEA investigation that has documented two decades of hidden Iranian nuclear activities that the United States claims shows a covert weapons programme.

Iran's resumption last month of uranium conversion, a first step in making fuel that can be used for nuclear reactors or material for atom bombs, has set off a crisis in which the US and the EU want to call in the international weight of the Security Council.

But Russia, which is building Iran's first nuclear reactor, and China, which buys Iranian oil, as well as non-aligned states back Iran's right to what it says are peaceful atomic efforts and reject such an escalation of diplomatic pressure.

The split on the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors has led to paralysis at a board meeting, which began Monday, then adjourned Thursday to allow for consultations in capitals, and was delayed in resuming yesterday.