WASHINGTON, Feb 4: Western nations Saturday hailed the vote by the UN nuclear watchdog to report Iran to the UN Security Council over its nuclear activities and urged Tehran to reconsider.

In Washington the United States expressed satisfaction with the vote, by 27 votes to three with five abstentions, by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board in Vienna earlier in the day.

“Today’s vote sends Iran a very clear and unmistakable message that they need to abide by their international obligations and to heed the call of the international community,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told AFP.

Russia is “satisfied” with the vote, which suspends for a month further action to give Tehran a chance to allay suspicions that it is developing nuclear weapons, foreign ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said.

“We urge Iran to respond constructively to the call by the IAEA’s governing council to cooperate fully in solving outstanding problems” including by “reestablishing a moratorium on work related to uranium enrichment,” Kamynin said.

Russia has tried to maintain close ties to Tehran and has been building Iran’s first nuclear power station at Bushehr.

It remains ready to discuss with Iran the idea of enriching uranium on Tehran’s behalf on Russian territory, a Russian foreign ministry spokesman said Saturday after reports that Iran might reject the proposal.

“Undoubtedly our invitation to the Iranian side on holding consultations on February 16 still stands,” another foreign ministry spokesman, Vladimir Kuznetsov, was quoted by the official ITAR-TASS news agency as saying.

Senior Iranian nuclear negotiator Javad Vaidi said in Iran earlier that Tehran might not even consider the Russian compromise proposal after the IAEA vote.

Britain warned Iran that the UN Security Council would almost certainly take action against it if it did not halt its nuclear programme, and urged it to take advantage of a breathing space.

“Iran has still a crucial opportunity between now and the March IAEA Board to comply with this latest resolution by resuming full suspension of its enrichment related and reprocessing activities and taking the steps required to address all outstanding questions from the IAEA,” said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

“Otherwise, decisions by the Security Council are almost inevitable,” he said in a statement in London.—AFP