Key members of the UN nuclear watchdog meet today as the European Union's three biggest powers prepare for a showdown over Iran's atomic programme that could lead to sanctions against Tehran.
Two years after France, Britain and Germany began a diplomatic drive to persuade Tehran to renounce sensitive nuclear technology, EU officials said their patience ran out after a defiant speech by Iran's new hardline president to the UN General Assembly on Saturday.
EU diplomats said they had begun drafting a resolution to submit to this week's meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) 35-nation board asking it to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for possible economic sanctions.
"The drafting of a resolution sending Iran to the Security Council has begun," an EU diplomat said.
Although the EU trio would not seek immediate sanctions against Iran, they might consider them in the future if Iran remained defiant, EU diplomats said.
French, British and German officials were due to meet with colleagues from other EU countries this morning ahead of the IAEA board meeting. Diplomats said EU countries were demanding that any resolution and strategy be agreed by the bloc as a whole.
They added that countries with significant exports to Iran like Italy and Austria were wary of exposing themselves to possible retaliatory measures by Iran.
Non-aligned developing countries, who were undecided on what position to take, were also due to meet this morning. International pressure on Iran has been mounting since it broke IAEA seals and resumed work at a uranium processing plant in Isfahan last month.
Work there had been suspended under a November deal with the three EU powers -- the Paris Agreement. But Russia, China, Brazil, most of the non-aligned nations on the IAEA board and IAEA director Dr Mohamed ElBaradei strongly oppose an immediate referral of Iran's case to the UN Council.
Faced with a split, EU diplomats said they might not insist that the IAEA board vote on the resolution at this week's meeting, despite US insistence that they go for a quick vote.
"Do we think we have a majority? Yes, we probably have. Do we think that a majority of, say, 20 out of 35 with some big countries voting against or abstaining would be enough to pressure Iran? That is the question," an EU diplomat said.
Of the 14 IAEA board members belonging to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), only two - Singapore and Peru - have said they will back a UN referral. The rest would vote against it or abstain, diplomats in Vienna said.
But Iran has few strong allies on the board, diplomats said.
"The only diehard pro-Iranian countries at this point are Russia and Venezuela," an EU diplomat said. Brazil could also be counted on to vote against a UN referral, he said.