The governing board of the UN nuclear watchdog has unanimously called on Iran to halt sensitive atomic work it resumed this week.
The resolution adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board of governors says Iran must resume a full suspension of all nuclear fuel related activities and asks the agency to verify Tehran's compliance.
Tehran has rejected the demand as unacceptable and illegal.
The European Union's resolution is unacceptable and we reject it
Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation"The resolution on Iran was just adopted without a vote by consensus, full consensus. All 35 members of the board agreed the language of the resolution text," a IAEA spokeswoman told reporters.
The IAEA board began meeting on Tuesday but adjourned to allow the EU time to negotiate the Iran resolution with the board members. It reconvened today to approve the draft after days of backroom negotiations on the text.
The resolution - drafted by Britain, Germany and France - requests IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei "to provide a comprehensive report on the implementation of Iran's NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) Safeguards Agreement and this resolution by September 3rd, 2005".
Iran resumed activities at the Isfahan uranium conversion plant on Monday. Despite US and EU calls that it not resume work there, Tehran yesterday broke the UN seals and made the facility fully operational.
The text did not say Iran should be referred to the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions. Iran rejected the draft resolution, saying it violated the NPT, the global pact against nuclear arms.
"The European Union's resolution is unacceptable and we reject it," Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation and a senior member of its delegation to the IAEA meeting, said before the resolution was approved.
"Iran considers the Paris Agreement as broken if the EU resolution is approved ... Iran does not accept the resolution as it is not legal and also it is against the NPT," he said.
Iran voluntarily suspended all sensitive atomic work in November 2004 after reaching a deal with the EU trio called the Paris Agreement, under which Tehran froze work related to atomic fuel production while negotiating a permanent deal with the EU.
Earlier this week, Iran rejected the EU's offer of political and economic incentives if it permanently abandoned enriched uranium fuel production, calling it "an insult to the Iranian nation for which the EU3 must apologise".
The resolution "urges Iran to re-establish full suspension of all enrichment related activities ... and to permit the Director General to reinstate the seals that have been removed at (Isfahan)."
EU diplomats said if Iran does not comply, they will ask the board to refer the matter to the Security Council in September.