Thursday, February 2 2006 14:40 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Vienna: European nations set the stage today (Feb 2,2006) for referral of Iran to the U.N. Security Council within days, formally submitting a text that calls for such a move to the International Atomic Energy Agency 35-nation board.

Submission means the board has to make a decision on approval at its meeting that starts tomorrow. With Russia and China throwing their support behind reporting Iran on Monday after months of opposition to referral, the motion was expected to pass by a wide margin.

The call for referral was contained in a confidential resolution obtained by The Associated Press. It ``requests the director general to report to the Security Council'' on steps Iran needs to take to dispel international suspicion it could be seeking to make nuclear arms.

Although Russia and China are longtime allies and trading partners of Iran, they agreed Monday on the need for Security Council involvement with Britain, France and the United States _the three other permanent Security Council members in the start of a protracted process that could end in sanctions for Tehran.

The developments were a boost to the United States, the main proponent of referral. It has waited years for international suspicions of Iran's nuclear ambitions to translate into support among board nations for referral.