UNITED NATIONS: Despite the decision on Saturday by the UN nuclear watchdog to report Iran to the Security Council, significant action is likely to come slowly, if at all, because of a split among the major powers, council diplomats say.

A provision in the IAEA resolution, inserted at the insistence of China and Russia, delayed any action in the Security Council that could criticise or punish Iran during the month of February, when the United States holds the council’s rotating presidency.

“We understand that the Security Council could be engaged at this stage only in terms of being informed by the IAEA board on the activities going on in the IAEA,” Russia’s deputy UN Ambassador Konstantin Dolgov told reporters on Friday.

Any resolution in the 15-member Security Council needs a minimum of nine ‘yes’ votes and no veto from its permanent members — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.

US and EU leaders, aware that Russia, China and others on the IAEA board wanted to avoid a showdown with Iran, stressed that reporting Tehran would not finish off diplomacy at the IAEA’s Vienna headquarters or trigger early sanctions.

Some envoys believe the Security Council could respond in a low-key fashion to the IAEA report, such as issuing a statement acknowledging the IAEA’s action. Considering such measures as an arms embargo would not be feasible for quite some time, they say.

Iran said it would immediately halt IAEA inspections of its facilities, a measure which could hamper efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

However, should Iran react more forcefully and end all cooperation with the IAEA, the United States and Europeans would probably push for forceful measures, short of economic sanctions.

John Bolton, the US ambassador to the United Nations, who had served as the Bush administration’s point man on nuclear proliferation, refrained from outlining any course of action. There would be no weekend council meeting, he said on Friday.

And China’s UN ambassador, Wang Guangya, made clear again that Beijing would oppose sanctions against Iran ‘as a matter of principle’.

But even without the threat of blanket sanctions, Iran had vigorously opposed a Security Council referral.

“It inevitably changes the political dynamic when their nuclear weapons program is being considered in the Security Council, which is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security, rather than in a specialised agency of the UN system,” Mr Bolton said.

“The Iranians know full well what they are doing, which is trying to acquire nuclear weapons capability,” Mr Bolton said. “I understand why they don’t want people talking about it in the full light of day. —Reuterss