UN council sets Iran nuclear review

(Correction: Because of an editing error, a headline on yesterday's World page incorrectly stated that the UN Security Council planned to review Iran for resuming uranium enrichment. Russia and China have agreed to join the United States and others in voting to report Iran to the Security Council, but a review has not been set.)

LONDON -- Russia and China agreed today to join the United States and its European allies in voting to report Iran to the UN Security Council for resuming uranium enrichment work and failing to disclose all facets of its nuclear program to UN inspectors.

The accord appeared to represent a major diplomatic breakthrough for the Bush administration and the European Union, which suspect Iran of concealing a nuclear weapons program behind what it claims to be a civilian nuclear project.

Russia and China, which have huge financial stakes in Iran, had been resisting the vote, which is due to be held at an emergency two-day UN International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors meeting beginning Thursday in Vienna.

Their about-face underscored the depths of their frustrations with the hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime and made it likely that a majority of the 35-member atomic energy agency board of governors would vote to haul Iran before the Security Council, which can impose economic sanctions.

''This is a very good agreement . . . that sends a very powerful message to Iran," said a senior State Department official who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. ''They can't depend on Russia and China to block action."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hashed out the accord in four hours of late-night talks with her counterparts from Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany, and European Union officials who have been spearheading negotiations with Iran. The United States, Russia, China, Britain, and France are the veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council.

The ministers agreed to urge the Security Council to delay any action against Iran until Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the atomic energy agency, presents a March 6 board of governors meeting with an updated report on Iran's compliance with demands to fully address questions about its nuclear program.

That provision was designed to give Iran time to answer those questions and was apparently a key to winning over Russia and China.

The wording of a statement on the agreement was finalized at 1 a.m. today.

In the statement, which was released by the British Foreign Office, the ministers said they ''shared concerns about Iran's nuclear program and agreed that an extensive period of confidence-building was required by Iran."

The ministers called on Iran to resume under International Atomic Energy Agency monitoring its more than two-year suspension in uranium enrichment work, which ended on Jan. 10.

Enrichment is the process that produces low-enriched uranium for power plants and highly enriched uranium for nuclear warheads depending on how long it's conducted.

The ministers agreed that the atomic energy agency board of governors ''should report to the Security Council its decision on steps required by Iran and should also report . . . all IAEA reports and resolutions . . . relating to this issue."

The US official said Rice wanted to bring Beijing and Moscow on board in order to send ''a powerful message" to Iran's theocratic government that the international community was united.

Russia and China have made clear that they oppose sanctions on Iran, and there was no indication in the statement that they had changed their minds.

But bringing them to the Security Council could strengthen the atomic energy agency's hand.

Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, has threatened to retaliate by ending its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog agency and taking other moves that could increase world oil prices.

Iran insists that it has the right to conduct peaceful uranium enrichment work under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the cornerstone of the international system to curb the spread of nuclear arms.