LONDON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Key powers agreed Tuesday to refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council over its nuclear programs, with a resolution expected later this week.
British Foreign Secretary announced the decision in the early hours after a London dinner meeting of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia -- and Germany.
The case is now expected to be passed to the Security Council at an emergency meeting of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna Thursday.
However, the parties agreed not to take any action against Iran until March, after the IAEA director has issued a formal report.
The timetable represents a compromise between the United States, France, Britain and Germany, which had pushed for immediate action against Iran, and Russia and China, which had argued for more time for diplomacy.
A Foreign Office official told United Press International Britain viewed it as "a good outcome" which maintained the international consensus while moving the process forward and increasing the pressure on Iran.
He acknowledged Europe and the United States would have been happy to move more quickly, but placed high importance on keeping the international players together. The difference between full referral in February and in March "wasn't seriously important," he said.
Straw, speaking on behalf of the five permanent members and Germany, said ministers would continue pursuing a diplomatic solution to the crisis, which escalated sharply earlier this month when Iran announced it was resuming uranium enrichment.
Tehran struck out at the decision. "Reporting Iran's dossier to the U.N. Security Council will be unconstructive and the end of diplomacy," top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Tuesday, according to state television.
Mark Fitzpatrick, senior fellow of non-proliferation at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies, said it was a threat the world had to take seriously.
"It's a real threat," he told UPI. "The world has to weigh that threat against the threat of taking no action, and seeing Iran move towards (weapons) capability and break one red line after another, emboldened by seeing no action from the international community."
