Thursday, March 9 2006 09:44 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Vienna: The UN nuclear watchdog yesterday(Mar 8,2006) opened the way for Security Council action against Iran over its nuclear programme, sparking an angry reaction from Tehran which threatened Washington with 'harm and pain' for leading the charge.

A report on Iran's programme, which the West fears is hiding a covert drive for the atom bomb, will now be sent to the UN body in New York, US ambassador Gregory Schulte told reporters here. A top US official in Washington said the dossier would be brought up at the Security Council next week.

In Vienna, the International Atomic Energy Agency wrapped up three days of talks focused on the international standoff, which included an assessment by its director Mohamed ElBaradei. He said it was still possible to reach a political settlement and urged all sides to 'lower the rhetoric' to achieve this.

"This is simply a new phase of diplomacy, an extension of diplomatic efforts to find a solution," ElBaradei said. Unlike the IAEA, the Security Council has enforcement powers and can impose punitive measures, including sanctions.

Europe and the United States have led the drive for action, saying Iran has hidden the truth about its nuclear program and should not be allowed to enrich uranium, which can provide the fuel for civilian reactors but also, in highly enriched form, the material for atomic weapons.

"Iran has not met the conditions at the IAEA" to suspend all enrichment and cooperate fully with inspectors, Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns told a US Congressional committee in Washington.

He said, "We will therefore start a new phase of diplomacy action by the UN Security Council starting next week." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, for his part, said in New York that there was no military solution to the row and cast doubt on the effectiveness of any sanctions against Tehran. Moscow has been trying to broker a compromise under which Iran could enrich uranium in Russia, so that it gets the nuclear fuel but not the technology for making bombs.

Iran has proposed suspending industrial-scale enrichment but doing research work, but the West says even small-scale enrichment is too dangerous.

Referring to Iran, the State Department said the 'already poor record on human rights and democracy worsened' in the Islamic republic last year under hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It warned that together with Syria, they posed 'threats' to neighboring countries and the international community.

"How a country treats its own people is a strong indication of how it will behave toward its neighbours," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

"We must call countries to account when they retreat from their human rights commitments," she said in unveiling the report.

The report also cited Iran's 'deprivation of basic rights to its own people, its interference in Iraq, its support for Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist organizations and its refusal to engage constructively on these issues.'

It accused President Ahmadinejad of condoning deterioration in prison conditions for hundreds of political prisoners, restrictions on press freedom and a rollback of social and political freedoms.

"Serious abuses such as summary executions, severe violations of religious freedom, discrimination based on ethnicity and religion, disappearances, extremist vigilantism and use of torture and other degrading treatment continued," the report said.

The human rights record of China, the report said, 'remained poor,' accusing the government of 'serious abuses'.

"Those who publicly advocated against Chinese government policies or views or protested against government authority faced harassment, detention and imprisonment by government and security authorities," it said.

Iranian security official Javad Vaidi, who led the Iranian delegation here, threatened reprisals against the United States.

"The United States may have the power to cause harm and pain but it is also susceptible to harm and pain," he said.

"So if the United States wishes to choose that path, let the ball roll." Vaidi reiterated that Iran would press on with small-scale enrichment work despite the IAEA's calls to halt this activity.

"We will continue to exercise our R& D activities based on our right," Vaidi said, referring to research and development.