VIENNA, Nov 23: The UN nuclear watchdog is expected on Thursday to forgo hauling Iran before the UN Security Council as the United States and Europe want to give Russia time to press Tehran to compromise on its atomic programme.

“The action is elsewhere,” a diplomat said, referring to plans by Russia and the European Union negotiators — Britain, France and Germany — to meet with Iran on December 6, probably in Vienna, to break the deadlock.

Meanwhile in Tehran Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki vowed to continue standing up to pressure from the West to abandon sensitive nuclear technology, saying he considered “the circumstances of the next IAEA meeting to be more constructive and positive than the previous one.”

In September, the board of governors of the 35-nation International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found Iran in non-compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), paving the way for the Islamic republic to be referred to the Security Council for possible sanctions.—AFP