The European Union (EU) has backed away from its demand for referring Iran's nuclear issue to the United Nations security Council, sources in Vienna said on Thursday.

However, the EU insisted Iran has violated the safeguard obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), for which Iran could be reported to the UN Security Council in accordance with Article 12 of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Statute.

EU diplomats said they had dropped the demand in the interest of getting a unanimous resolution approved by IAEA board of governors meeting this week.

Iran's official IRNA news agency confirmed the report and quoted Germany's ambassador to the IAEA Herbert Honsowitz as saying: "The EU has withdrawn its request to send Iran's case to the Security Council."

However, diplomats in Vienna said the EU's new version of draft resolution makes clear Iran's failures and breaches of the NPT Safeguard Agreement, which implies that the IAEA may refer the Iran case to the UN Security Council at any time in the future.

The US response to the move is unknown for the time being. On Wednesday, US Ambassador to the IAEA Gregory Schulte called for reporting the Iran's case to the UN, listing two "reasons" for the move.

On Thursday morning, the IAEA board of governors meeting continued its debate on the Iran's nuclear issue. Russia is expected to spell out its position on the issue.

Source: Xinhua