German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed Wednesday in Berlin that "decisive further steps" should be taken against Iran if Tehran failed to reconsider its nuclear program.

Before meeting visiting French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, Merkel said, "We have to think step by step, and above all send a signal to Iran that shows the international community will not accept it if Iran doesn't respect commitments that are expected of it and the promises it has made."

De Villepin, who was on a one-day visit here to meet Merkel, said reporting Iran to the Security Council could not be excluded "today" but suggested the door remained open for further diplomacy.

Both Merkel and de Villepin urged the international community to stand firm amid the Iran nuclear crisis.

De Villepin said that Iran could be brought before the UN Security Council following a vote by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The vote is scheduled on Feb. 2-3 at an emergency meeting, which is to convene in the request of the European Union troika, Germany, France and Britain.

Reports here quoted diplomats as saying that the three nations began circulating a draft resolution Wednesday for the Feb. 2-3 IAEA meeting, asking the UN nuclear watchdog to report Iran to the Security Council.

The draft had so far only been seen by U.S. and EU officials, according to the reports.

"What's important is that the international community of nations holds together on this. We can not allow international law to be trampled," he said.

A majority of vote, two-thirds, of the 35 IAEA governors is required to refer Iran to the UN Security Council to face possible economic sanctions.

Merkel said that her country and France were working to win as big a majority as possible in the IAEA vote on Iran.

"There is the issue of whether it goes to the UN Security Council -- this is a question that has to be answered," she said.

Tehran recently removed UN seals from its nuclear facilities to resume research of nuclear fuel, insisting that its nuclear program be aimed at civilian use. But the United States and other western countries have accused of aiming to develop nuclear weapons.

The move prompted the EU troika to made a decision last Thursday to refer Iran to the UN Security Council to face possible sanctions, ceasing years of talks with The Islamic nation.

Source: Xinhua