LONDON – The United States and other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council reached a surprising agreement today that Iran should be hauled before the powerful body over its disputed nuclear program.
China and Russia, longtime allies and trading partners of Iran, signed on to a statement that calls on the U.N. nuclear watchdog to transfer the Iran dossier to the Security Council, which could impose sanctions or take other harsh action.
Foreign ministers from China and Russia, plus the United States, Britain and France, also said the Security Council should wait until March to take up the Iran case, after a formal report on Tehran’s activities from the nuclear watchdog agency.
Foreign ministers from Germany and the European Union also agreed to what amounted to a compromise – take the case to the Security Council but allow a breather before the council undertakes what could be a divisive debate.
Any of the five permanent members of the Security Council, all nuclear powers themselves, can veto an action voted by the full council membership.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other foreign ministers discussed Iran at a private dinner Monday night at the home of British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. After the four-hour meeting, a joint statement called on the International Atomic Energy Agency to report on the Iran case when it meets in Vienna on Thursday.
The IAEA has already found Iran in violation of nuclear obligations and issued a stern warning to Tehran in September.
Iran insists its nuclear program is intended only to produce electricity. The United States and some allies say Iran is hiding ambitions to build a nuclear bomb, but the Security Council members have been divided about how strong a line to take.
It is still not clear how Russia and China would vote if the questions of sanctions came before the Security Council. It is also not clear that the United States will win the broad international consensus it seeks when the IAEA votes.
The IAEA “will report on the situation in Iran and the way the Iranian authorities are not cooperating with the international agency,” said a French government official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
He said the Russian and Chinese ministers had initially been reluctant to agree to refer Iran to the Security Council, but they were persuaded of the need for the council members to show a united front.
There was no immediate comment from Chinese officials in Beijing.
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