The United States yesterday demanded swift action to drag Iran to the UN Security Council over its atomic ambitions, while Russia and China urged caution.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began a visit to Syria in a signal to the world that the two regional allies, each facing threats of referral to the council, will not be cowed.
"On Iran, we have been very clear that the time has come for a referral to the Security Council," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in Washington.
She did not mention Russia, but she was speaking a day after the European Union said it was mulling a Russian proposal that would stop short of formally referring Iran to the council.
A formal referral would mean Iran could face sanctions over the West's suspicions that it is pursuing a nuclear bomb. Tehran says its only goal is to produce atomic energy for civilian use.
Moscow wants Iran to be simply "reported" to the council, which could then discuss its case but there would be a lack of legal weight and there would be no potential for "consequences", EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana explained yesterday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's board is due to debate Iran at an emergency meeting on February 2, but no consensus has emerged on what the UN nuclear watchdog should do.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov took a cautious line, saying his country's position at the meeting would be guided by the IAEA's own assessment of Iran's behaviour.
"The main principle is not to cause harm, not to cause harm to the international community, not cause harm to the system of non-proliferation," he said after talks on Iran with his French counterpart Philippe Douste-Blazy in Moscow.
Iran's Ahmadinejad has scorned a resolution drafted by EU negotiators Britain, France and Germany, asking the IAEA to send the Iranian nuclear dossier to the Security Council.
The Islamic republic is waging a high-stakes diplomatic battle with the West to head off any UN censure or sanctions.
China reiterated its preference for a diplomatic solution. "We hope all parties will exercise restraint and patience and appropriately resolve the Iran nuclear issue through peaceful means," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said.
China and Russia, both permanent council members with veto powers like the United States, France and Britain, have big trade interests in Iran and are wary of any full-scale embargo.
"What Russia and China are concerned about is a shadow cast over Iran and their commercial stakes if this case goes to the council," a Vienna-based EU diplomat said.
"The Russians are very reluctant," he said. "For them, our draft leaves too much room for manoeuvre and interpretation to allow the Security Council to do much more than they want."
Iran, whose decision last week to remove UN seals on uranium enrichment equipment prompted the EU to break off two years of talks, has taken a defiant stance, aware of its muscle as the world's fourth biggest oil exporter in a volatile market.
Its top nuclear negotiator said his country was willing to discuss the West's concerns, but not to scrap nuclear fuel research, which could advance a quest for atomic power or bombs.
"They should not ask a brave nation with very good scientists to expect not to engage in nuclear research," Ali Larijani told the British Broadcasting Corporation. "If they want guarantees of no (military) diversion of nuclear fuel we can reach a formula acceptable to both sides in talks."
He was apparently referring to a Russian proposal to enrich uranium in a joint venture on Iran's behalf. Talks on this are due to resume in Moscow on February 16, although Western officials have expressed scepticism about Iran's intentions.