LONDON, Jan 16: Referring Iran to the UN Security Council is ‘a done deal’, a European diplomatic source said on Monday as officials from the world’s leading powers gathered in London to plan the next step in the crisis over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

“The Russians are agreed now. They have changed their position,” said the source. “The Chinese are still a little hesitant, but effectively a Security Council referral is now a done deal. It will go to the Security Council.”

Senior diplomats from Britain, France and Germany — the EU nations which have tried to negotiate with Iran — debated the referral option in talks with counterparts from China, Russia and the United States.

Their discussions, aimed at building a global consensus on Iran, were taking place at the Foreign Office in London against the din of Iranian dissidents chanting their support for referral on the sidewalk outside.

The meeting was being held behind closed doors at the Foreign Office, with British officials refusing to comment on the discussions.

Iran, which has close trade and energy ties with China and Russia, insists that its nuclear ambitions are peaceful and legal. Over the weekend, it declared that it was ‘not scared’ at the prospect of UN referral.

Getting the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to refer Iran’s non-compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty and IAEA resolutions could be a prelude to possible UN sanctions, or a more likely UN order for Tehran to halt nuclear research.

The European diplomatic source said the United States wanted an emergency meeting of the IAEA’s governors in Vienna to be convened this week, ‘but it looks like it won’t be until next week’.

Such a delay will give the agency’s director, Mohamed ElBaradei, time to prepare a new report on Iran’s lack of cooperation with his inspectors.

“He has already spelled out his position that, after nearly three years, he is still not in a position to judge the nature of Iran’s nuclear programme,” the diplomatic source said.—AFP