VIENNA, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- The United Nations atomic energy watchdog put off a vote Friday on a resolution to refer Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions.
Objections raised by U.S. negotiators at the International Atomic Energy Agency meeting to language calling for a nuclear-free Middle East were behind the delay, the New York Times reported. Israel, which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, is the only country in the region with nuclear weapons.
Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said that referring his country to the Security Council would be "a big mistake." Rafsanjani talked about the IAEA in a Friday sermon to worshippers at the University of Tehran.
Europeans would be willing to accept the call for a nuclear-free Mideast, but the United States fears that Iran would use it as a propaganda tool, senior diplomats told the Times.
"The Americans are worried that once it is there, it will stay there forever and allow the Iranians to hide behind it," an ambassador involved in the negotiations told the Times.
