They said Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany would strive in London for a consensus before the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) holds an emergency meeting on Iran in Vienna on February 2.
The United States and European Union allies want the IAEA to refer Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions. Russia and China are urging caution, preferring something like an IAEA statement of concern about Iran without a referral now.
"There are still differences, certainly, and things are still in flux, but we are not too far apart. We need to agree on a common approach," a senior diplomat said, asking not to be identified because of the delicacy of continuing consultations.
Political directors of the six powers, who report to foreign ministers, failed at a January 16 London meeting to align positions on Iran, although EU diplomats said differences narrowed and Russia spoke of being "very close" to Western views.
"The problem will have to be resolved at foreign minister level. The EU powers have put their draft resolution for the board on hold pending this next meeting, since Russia has asked for substantial amendments," said an EU diplomat.
"For Moscow, the key element they want in a resolution is simply a request to ‘inform’ the Security Council about Iran, which would permit a debate in the Security Council but nothing else for the time being."
He said China had told the EU it had its own proposal in mind for the IAEA but had not presented anything in writing yet.
MISTRUST
The West suspects a clandestine nuclear arms program is under way in Iran, which concealed atomic research work including uranium enrichment from the IAEA for almost 20 years until it was exposed by Iranian exiles in 2002.
Iran says its nuclear program is designed solely to generate electricity for its growing economy and that atomic bombs would violate its Islamic faith.
IAEA safeguards investigators led by deputy agency director general Olli Heinonen flew to Tehran on Tuesday in a concerted effort to get Iran to cooperate fully with the agency’s demands on past nuclear activities, diplomats close to the IAEA said.
They said Heinonen would press for access to the Lavisan military site that was razed before inspectors could reach it and test for evidence of radiation. He also wants information on Iran’s nuclear black market activity and on a blueprint said by diplomats to describe how to build the core of a nuclear bomb.
Western concern has risen due to Tehran’s calls for wiping out Israel, an alleged pattern of delays and evasion in dealing with IAEA inspectors since 2003 and its announced resumption of nuclear fuel research on January 9, breaking a deal with the EU.
That fuel research move dismayed the West and sparked the current EU-U.S. push for Security Council involvement.
But the senior diplomat said that while Iran had begun moving equipment around and clearing space at its pilot uranium-enrichment plant at Natanz, it was not known to have begun operating machinery there.
Some diplomats believe Iran may be holding off on such work to await the outcome of the February 2 IAEA crisis gathering.
IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei believes transferring Iran’s case from agency to Security Council jurisdiction next week would be premature and has rejected EU-U.S. requests to speed up a wide-ranging report on Iran for the February 2 board.
Diplomats close to the IAEA say ElBaradei must stick to IAEA due process under which he has given Iran until the next regular board meeting on March 6 to answer questions about alleged violations of nuclear non-proliferation rules.