But most members of the IAEA board, wary of the faulty intelligence that led to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, have been reluctant to report Iran to U.N. headquarters without proof of a nuclear weapons program there.
IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei told the board yesterday that Iran's suspension is in place and that he has not found any evidence of a weapons program. But last week, ElBaradei said Iran suffers from a "confidence deficit" and needs to work harder to answer questions about its past nuclear activities and win the world's trust.
Under the terms of the new resolution, ElBaradei's inspectors will now monitor the suspension and are to report any violation immediately to the agency's board.
The Bush administration had sought a tough trigger in the resolution that would automatically send Iran to the Security Council if ElBaradei recorded a violation. The current wording would require the IAEA board to meet first to discuss the issue, but U.S. officials made it clear yesterday that they would use the opportunity to report Iran on their own if the board was not willing to do so.
"We have put in place, we think, a mechanism in this resolution that means that if they do violate it -- in the pure skeptic's view, when they violate it -- it will be reported, and that'll be the basis for further action by the board," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
In Vienna, where the IAEA board met, U.S. officials said for the first time that the United States is willing to take Iran to the Security Council on its own.
Ambassador Jackie W. Sanders said that "we believe Iran's nuclear weapons program poses a growing threat to international peace and security" and that "any member of the United Nations may bring to the attention of the Security Council any situation that might endanger the maintenance of international peace and security."
If the United States did so, Iran would be likely to highlight other wording in the resolution that says Iran's suspension is a "voluntary, non-legally binding confidence-building measure," giving Tehran legal maneuvering room to fight the United States.
"My government would like to state, for the record, our reservations about this resolution," Sanders said, adding: "Most of what the board is still requesting of Iran is sadly familiar. Indeed, we have been making such requests since June 2003."
Iranian negotiator Sirus Naseri fell asleep during Sanders's speech, according to diplomats in the room.
The only toughly worded sentence in the two-page resolution criticizes Iran for concealing its nuclear program in the past but welcomes the corrective measures it has taken since October 2003, when it was first reported to the IAEA's board.
Much of the mild wording on Iran's program was won in last-minute negotiations after Iran rescinded a request to continue research work on 20 centrifuges.
"This resolution which was approved by the IAEA was a definite defeat for our enemies who wanted to pressure Iran by sending its case to the U.N. Security Council," President Mohammad Khatami was quoted by state radio as saying.
The entire resolution is contingent on the success of Iran's negotiations with Europe and its continued suspension.
If the deal does unravel and Iran resumes its uranium-enrichment programs, Washington would have an easier time persuading allies to report Iran to the Security Council.
Iran says its once-secret program of uranium enrichment, which was exposed by an exile group two years ago, is part of a future nuclear energy program. But Iran's vast oil and gas wealth, the scale of the program, and 18 years of concealment have fueled suspicions that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon.
A recent CIA report on weapons of mass destruction says the U.S. government is convinced Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon but offered no concrete evidence.
