White House: Iran could face UN Security Council

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States called Iran's renewed work on nuclear fuel on Tuesday a serious concern and said the international community would have no choice but to seek U.N. Security Council action if Tehran persisted.

"If the regime in Iran continues on the current course and fails to abide by its international obligations there is no other choice but to refer the matter to the Security Council," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

But U.S. officials said referring Iran to the council -- for removing U.N. seals at its Natanz uranium enrichment plant and resuming nuclear fuel research -- was not definite and it was unclear whether Russia and China would support this move.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday about Iran but he said he was not "presupposing" how other countries would vote.

"We think that ultimately this will end up in the Security Council just because of Iran's past behavior on this," McCormack said.

The United States has tried and failed for more than a year to persuade members of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency to refer Iran to the Security Council. Many countries are loath to jeopardize access to Iran's vast oil supplies.

But Tehran's nuclear activities have long been a sore point in relations with the West, with friction increasing in recent months after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Holocaust was a myth and that Israel should be "wiped off the map."

President George W. Bush early in his administration said Iran was part of an "axis of evil," and more recently called Ahmadinejad an "odd guy."

'IRAN IS NOT IRAQ'

Some states fear Washington may consider military action, as in Iraq, but McClellan said Bush had made clear that "Iran is not Iraq." "We are working with the international community to resolve this in a peaceful and diplomatic manner," he said.

McClellan said if Iran mastered the technology of uranium enrichment it could apply that technology to make nuclear weapons. Tehran says it only wants to produce civilian energy to satisfy the country's booming electricity demand.

European diplomats have said they would seek an emergency meeting of the IAEA board of governors, perhaps as early as next week.

U.S. and European officials say it is most likely that Russia -- and probably China too -- would abstain if the IAEA board votes for referral to the Security Council.

The United States was in close consultation with France, Britain and Germany, the so-called EU3 group which has been negotiating with Iran on the nuclear issue -- and other IAEA board members on possible next steps, U.S. officials said.

These probably won't be decided until after EU3 foreign ministers meet in Berlin on Thursday with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, one EU diplomat said.

An Iranian exile told reporters on Tuesday he had information suggesting Tehran was farther along in being able to produce bomb-grade atomic fuel at Natanz than many suspected.

Alireza Jafarzadeh, former spokesman of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which disclosed Iran's covert nuclear program in 2002, provided names of companies and individuals involved in the work but no proof.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Carol Giacomo, Saul Hudson and Sue Pleming)