Iran referral to UN looms as European nations meet

BERLIN - Britain, France and Germany are expected to call for Tehran to be hauled before the UN over its nuclear ambitions following a meeting of foreign ministers overnight, diplomats have said.

Foreign Ministers from the three countries were due to meet last night following the US's statement on Wednesday that it was "more likely than ever" that Iran would be referred to the Security Council for restarting nuclear research.

The move would signify the end of 2 1/2 years of diplomatic efforts by the three nations to convince Tehran to abandon its uranium enrichment programme, which they suspect it intends to use to produce nuclear weapons.

One diplomat from the "EU3" said the plan for the Berlin meeting was "cancellation and referral" - meaning ending talks with Iran unless it promises to cease work, and referral to the Security Council, which could consider punitive economic sanctions.

"Everybody agrees the point of no return has been reached," the EU3 diplomat said, referring to what he said was an informal consensus reached among the bloc's 25 member states.

EU patience with Tehran has been wearing thin for months. The EU3 broke off negotiations with Iran after it resumed uranium processing in August but resumed talks last month.

European anger intensified after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and doubted that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

- REUTERS