World powers including Russia had agreed Wednesday on a draft resolution asking the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board of governors to report Iran to the Security Council, according to a text obtained by AFP.

The draft is almost certain to win approval on the 35-nation board, ending a two-year US quest to win support for taking Iran to the Council, which unlike the IAEA has enforcement powers and can impose sanctions.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who spoke to the organization's 35-nation governing board, said the standoff over Iran's nuclear program was at a "critical phase," but he said it was not yet a crisis and that Teheran had a chance to regain the trust of the international community.

"It's about confidence building and it is not about an imminent threat," he said to reporters, adding that the IAEA meeting was about pressing Iran to resolve doubts about its nuclear intentions before a conclusive report he is to make at a March 6 meeting.

"All who have spoken on the issue, even those who are supporting Security Council reporting, are making it very clear that the Security Council is not asked at this stage to take any action (that could lead to sanctions), definitely not before I submit my report in March. All of them are saying that this is simply a continuation of diplomacy," ElBaradei said.

The Vienna-based IAEA has been investigating Iran for three years and has said the Islamic Republic hid sensitive nuclear activities for 18 years before the inquest began.

Moving the dossier to the Security Council in New York is a "momentous moment," non-proliferation analyst Mark Fitzpatrick told AFP.

"For the first time the Security Council will be able to consider enforcement measures and Iran for the first time will have to face the prospect of paying the cost for the path it is on," said Fitzpatrick, who is from London's International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank.

But a diplomat close to the IAEA warned that referral could provoke Iran to push ahead with a program it insists is peaceful and reduce cooperation with the atomic agency.

If this happens, "we will not be better off," the diplomat said, especially as the United States and Europe "have no strategy for when we get to New York," where Iranian allies and trade partners Russia and China have vetoes on the Security Council.

Unease among major western powers over action