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Hopes in the US administration that Iran could be hauled before the UN Security Council for hiding sensitive aspects of its nuclear program were dimming on Monday, diplomats said. The United Nation's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is to consider the move, which could expose Iran to punishing sanctions, when the agency's 35-nation board of governors meets Thursday in Vienna. The United States accuses Tehran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons and wants the issue to go to the Security Council but most IAEA board members, led by Britain, France and Germany, oppose this as they want to reward Tehran for cooperating with the atomic agency, diplomats said. "The Americans may think no resolution is better than a weak one for fear of weakening the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)," which authorizes the IAEA to enforce international nuclear safeguards, a Western diplomat said. Another diplomat said the Americans were holding off on offering a counter-resolution to one being prepared by Britain, France and Germany since they don't think they have a consensus for their position. The United States "is not going to float a policy that's a loser," the diplomat said. IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said in a report last week that while Iran has violated international safeguards for 18 years by hiding nuclear activities that included making plutonium and enriched uranium, there was so far no evidence it is trying to make a nuclear bomb. In Moscow meanwhile, Russia's atomic energy minister said in an interview that international sanctions against Iran would be "unacceptable," as Tehran had been open about its nuclear programme. Alexander Rumyantsev said he hoped that the IAEA would "note the growing transparency and openness" of the Islamic republic. "Sanctions are unacceptable as nothing has been discovered," the minister told the Vremya Novostei daily. And in Brussels, the European Union's top diplomat said Iran had been "honest" in its nuclear dealings with the international community but must now implement a deal to open up its nuclear sites to snap inspections. Javier Solana, speaking ahead of talks in Brussels with Iran's top national security official Hassan Rowhani, also said he expected the IAEA to stop short of calling for the UN Security Council to rebuke the Islamic republic. "They have been honest. Let's see if they continue all the way to the end," Solana told reporters. "We still have some hurdles to pass, but we have passed some very important ones." Britain, France and Germany have repeatedly urged opening up a dialogue with oil and gas-rich Iran while the United States does not even have diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic. A visit by the three European countries' foreign ministers to Tehran on October 21 won key concessions, including Iran's full disclosure of its past nuclear activities, a pledge to accept tougher inspections and a suspension of the enrichment of uranium. Diplomats, as well as Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, said a deal was struck in Tehran that Iran would be rewarded for cooperation by being spared a citation for non-compliance before the Security Council. "There is clearly enough in ElBaradei's report to cite the Iranians for non-compliance but it was implict in the October 21 agreement that Iran would be rewarded for cooperation," a diplomat said. The Iranian ambassador, Ali Akbar Salehi, has warned that an IAEA non-compliance finding would "escalate the issue into an international crisis." Diplomats said Iran could back off from its pledge to sign an additional protocol on unannounced inspections or could resume uranium enrichment, a process that produces nuclear fuel but also possible weapons-grade material. A diplomat said the US still "would very much like to see a non-compliance resolution but was not insisting on it." Diplomats said Britain, France and Germany may be ready to suggest notifying the Security Council on an informational basis of Iran's past violations, with no threat of sanctions, while stressing the need to encourage Iranian cooperation. "Perhaps the Americans would accept a resolution that didn't mention non-compliance but had language so strong that it was clear to anyone reading it that that's what they're talking about," a diplomat said. Another diplomat said urging Iran to cease, rather than just suspend, uranium enrichment could also make a resolution tough. A Western diplomat said the "general feeling at the IAEA is for Iran to cease its enrichment activities, and that seems to be the European position. "In the end if Iran does in fact cease as opposed to suspend its enrichment and reprocessing activities, that would be a victory," he said. Iran's top national security official, Hassan Rowhani, was to meet senior European Union officials in Brussels Monday as Tehran lobbied ahead of the IAEA meeting. And German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer was in Washington where he was to meet with US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Monday and President George W. Bush's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. 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