"There is no doubt that a report to the Security Council initiates a chain of events, of actions and reactions that breed tension and add volatitility to an already vulnerable political situation in the region," Aghazadeh told a meeting of the 138 nations of the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.

Aghazadeh said a resolution adopted by the IAEA's board of governors on Saturday that threatened to take Iran before the Security Council for violations of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) showed "how issues can reach the borders of absurdity when politics overwhelm the work of the agency."

He said the resolution was passed by the 35-nation IAEA under pressure from the United States and the European Union, which oppose Iran's nuclear work on the grounds that it could be used to make weapons.

Aghazadeh said an IAEA investigation of Iran has uncovered no diversion of nuclear material for military purposes. He gave no details of how Tehran might react to the latest moves against it.

The IAEA has ruled that Iran is in non-compliance with the NPT for activities it hid from the agency for almost two decades.

The body is to hear a report on the matter in November from its chief Mohamed ElBaradei and will then decide on the timing of referring Iran to the Security Council.

The Council could impose a range of measures, ranging from at first asking Iran to cooperate with the IAEA to eventually imposing trade sanctions.

US IAEA ambassador Gregory Schulte said the "finding of non-compliance shows that the actions of (Iran's) leadership are isolating that great country from the international community."

"The onus is on Iran to come into compliance with its international obligations and to take the steps necessary to give the world confidence that its nuclear programs are truly peaceful."

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