Saturday, January 14 2006 11:05 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Tehran: Iran yesterday (Jan 13,2006) threatened to stop cooperating with the UN atomic watchdog over its controversial nuclear programme as US President George W Bush said it would be 'logical' to refer Tehran to the Security Council.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, "All voluntary means of cooperation" would end if Iran was referred, possibly indicating a halt to snap UN checks of its nuclear sites or even a reputation of uranium enrichment.

"It's logical that a country which has rejected diplomaticefforts to end the crisis be sent to the United Nations Security Council," Bush told reporters at the White House after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

With the European Union backing up US pressure on Tehran after it resumed ultra-sensitive nuclear research, Bush also made clear his 'desire to solve this issue diplomatically'.

He said that if Iran obtained nuclear weapons it would pose 'a grave threat to the security of the world,' recalling how hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had called last year for Israel to be 'wiped from the map'.

Merkel vowed not to be 'intimidated by any country such as Iran', adding it was imperative that Germany, the US and other countries spoke with a united voice on the issue.

But Iran, which insists its nuclear programme is peaceful, remained defiant.

Ahmadinejad vowed not to give 'one iota' on its nuclear programme, especially efforts to master the fuel cycle.

"They (the Europeans) tell us to give up nuclear energy (development) and in return promise to give us the nuclear fuel.but they do not even give us vital medicines, how can we trust them, "the student agency ISNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

"If the dossier is sent to the Security Council, theEuropean countries will lose the means which are currently at their disposal," Mottaki was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

"The Government will be obliged, in conformity with the law adopted by parliament, to end all its voluntary measures of cooperation," he warned.

This was a reference to a new law that obliges the Government to 'stop voluntary and non-legally binding measures and implement its scientific, research and executive Programmes' if the Security Council gets involved.

The law does not refer to specific forms of retaliation, but measures could include resumption of uranium enrichment as well as refusing to adhere to the additional protocol of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which gives increased inspection powers to the IAEA.

The additional protocol was signed by the previous reformist government but was never ratified by the conservative-run parliament.

An Iranian withdrawal from the NPT 'would hamper the IAEA's investigative capabilities,' said a Western diplomat in Vienna, where the IAEA is based.

With signs emerging of international consensus, EU, US, Chinese and Russian officials are due to hold talks London on Monday, when they are expected to set a date for a crunch meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).