Iran Nuke Fight Heats Up

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

(CBS/AP)  Despite growing worries about Iran's nuclear ambitions, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress on Thursday that al Qaeda was the top concern, CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss reports.

On Iran, Negroponte said U.S. intelligence doesn't think they have a nuclear weapon or enough fissionable material. Still, Negroponte said, the Iranian nuclear program remained of the "highest concern."

Washington has waited years for international suspicions over Iran's nuclear ambitions to translate into support among IAEA board nations.

Only a simple majority is needed to approve the text, but America and its key backers have held off pushing for earlier referral in hopes of building support for the measure.

While a broad majority of member nations support referral, a handful of countries that have major policy disputes with the Americans remain opposed — among them Cuba, Venezuela, Syria and Belarus.

"My delegation manifests its total disagreement with the proposal ... to bring it to the Security Council," chief Venezuelan delegate Gutavo Marques Marin said, reflecting the view of dissenting nations.

A vote could be delayed until Friday, possibly even Saturday, as diplomats accredited to the meeting said the draft could still undergo small-scale modifications to gain more support.

Diplomats said India, which had been opposed, was leaning toward supporting the draft now that China and Russia had signed onto it. Countries opposed have the choice of directly voting against the text or abstaining.

Speaking for Germany, Britain and France — the three nations representing the European Union — German chief delegate Herbert Honsowitz told the meeting, "The time now has come for the Security Council to get involved."

Iran's decision Jan. 10 to restart small-scale uranium enrichment — and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent calls for Israel to be wiped off the map — apparently rattled Beijing and Moscow enough to support the U.S. position. Iran became more insistent on its right to pursue a nuclear program and less cooperative in talks with European negotiators after the election of the hard-line Ahmadinejad last June.

The call for referral was contained in a confidential draft resolution obtained by The Associated Press. It "requests the director general to report to the Security Council" on steps Iran needs to take to dispel international suspicion it could be seeking to manufacture nuclear arms."

The draft expresses "serious concerns about Iran's nuclear program" and notes "the absence of confidence that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes."

If the board approves referral as expected, it will launch a protracted process that could end in Security Council sanctions for Tehran.

"We are reaching a critical phase but it is not a crisis," ElBaradei told reporters.

Even if the board agrees on referring Iran, "I am making very clear that the Security Council is not asked at this stage to take any action," he said.

Moscow and Beijing support referral only on condition that the council takes no action until at least March, when the board next meets to review the status of an IAEA probe into Iran's nuclear program and recommends further action.

Berdennikov, the Russian delegate, emphasized his country's position on the delay, telling reporters that Moscow "insists" no Security Council action be taken before March.