Iran Nuke Fight Heats Up

Country Vows Retaliation If It Is Referred To U.N. Security Council

(CBS/AP)  U.S. and European diplomats campaigned behind the scenes Thursday in a last-minute effort to gain the broadest possible consensus for reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council within days over concerns it is seeking nuclear weapons.

The negotiations came as the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors began a two-day meeting on a European draft resolution calling for Tehran to be referred to the Security Council, which can impose sanctions.

Senior U.S. officials tell CBS News they have counted the votes and have enough support to approve the measure. What the Security Council will do is not yet clear but the Iranians are already threatening retaliation, reports CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar.

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CBS News Correspondent Sheila MacVicar answers questions about the escalating tensions with Iran over its nuclear intentions.

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Iran's chief delegate vowed to suspend all voluntary cooperation with the IAEA if his country is referred to the Security Council.

While diplomats at the meeting said adoption of the resolution within the next few days was certain, Washington and the European Union, the key backers of referral, wanted to build as much support as possible.

The chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, said the meeting opened a "window of opportunity" to defuse the crisis, stressing that even if the issue is referred, the Security Council would not take it up before next month.

The IAEA board was expected to approve the motion easily because Russia and China — which have veto power on the Security Council along with the U.S., Britain and France — now support reporting Iran following months of opposition. But protracted back-room negotiations were being held to achieve broader consensus.

Iran, which claims its program is peaceful and aimed only at generating electricity, has warned that referral would provoke it into doing exactly what the world wants it to renounce — starting full-scale uranium enrichment, a possible step to developing nuclear weapons.

Iran's chief delegate Ali Asghar Soltanieh also reiterated that his country would stop honoring an agreement allowing the IAEA thorough inspections on short notice if it is referred to the 15-nation council.

Grigory Berdennikov, Russia's chief IAEA delegate, reinforced Moscow's position outside the meeting, telling reporters that referral to the Security Council would send Iran "a serious signal."

Chief U.S. delegate Gregory L. Schulte agreed.

"It is time to send a clear and unequivocal message to the Iranian regime about the concerns of the international community by reporting this issue to the Security Council," he said.