The US Department of State on Friday backed off demands to take Iran's nuclear program before the UN Security Council.Deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Washington hoped the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would "take firm action" in response to an IAEA report on Iran's suspect nuclear activities.
However, he refused to repeat a statement made on Thursday that Washington intended to take the matter before the Security Council.
"Our diplomatic discussions with (IAEA) board members are continuing" in Vienna, he said.
The United States wants the IAEA to declare Iran in non-compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty. But it has failed to agree with Britain, France and Germany on a resolution in response to the report detailing almost two decades of hidden nuclear activities.
Ereli went too far in his statement during a State Department press briefing Thursday, a senior State Department official said privately.
The spokesman "might have been a little too forward leaning," the official said. "I'm not sure frankly, that referring it to the security council is something that we are insisting on in our negotiations."
Kenneth Brill, the US Ambassador to the IAEA has criticized Iran for backtracking on a pledge to accept wider inspections, after Tehran had promised full cooperation.
He said in Vienna, "Iran's breaches of its obligations have been brazen and systematic and far from merely 'technical' ones."
But the IAEA adjourned until Wednesday because of the failure to agree on a resolution.
Declaring Iran in "non-compliance" with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty could see the issue put before the UN Security Council, the only body which could slap sanctions on Iran.
But Britain, France and Germany fear an Iranian backlash that could lead Tehran to cut off cooperation with the IAEA.
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