The permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council agreed on early Tuesday in London that this week's IAEA meeting should report Iran to the Security Council over its nuclear program.

But the foreign ministers of the permanent five members also said the Security Council should wait until March to take up the Iran case, after a formal report on Tehran's activities from the UN watchdog agency.

The following is the full text of a statement issued by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw concerning an agreement on Iran made by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and the European Union on Tuesday.

The Foreign Ministers of China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the High Representative of the European Union met this evening, 30 January 2006, and agreed the following:

"Ministers:

-- underlined their commitment to the NPT and their determination to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons;

-- shared serious concerns about Iran's nuclear programme, and agreed that an extensive period of confidence-building was required from Iran;

-- called on Iran to restore in full the suspension of enrichment-related activity, including R&D, under the supervision of the IAEA;

-- agreed that this week's Extraordinary IAEA Board meeting should report to the Security Council its decision on the steps required from Iran, and should also report to the Security Council all IAEA reports and resolutions, as adopted, relating to this issue;

-- agreed that the Security Council should await the Director General's report to the March meeting of the IAEA Board, which would include a report on the implementation of the February Board's Resolution, and any Resolution from the March meeting, before deciding to take action to reinforce the authority of the IAEA process;

-- confirmed their resolve to continue to work for a diplomatic solution to the Iran problem."

Source: Xinhua