The major members of the UN Security Council demanded Monday that Iran stop its nuclear program.

However, Russia hopes members of the UN Security Council can reach a compromise with Iran over its nuclear program and not have to bring the issue before the council.

China, Russia, France, Germany,  the United States and Britain of the Security Council met for seven hours in London on Monday to discuss the dispute.

The members said after the meeting they had "serious concerns" about Iran's decision last week to resume research on nuclear fuel and break the UN seals at its main uranium enrichment plant, said Britain's Foreign Office.

They couldn't agree, though, whether to refer the issue to the council to have action taken against Iran.

However the members have called for an emergency board meeting of the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Council (IAEA) on Feb.2-3. The 35 countries that comprise the board could then refer the dispute to the Security Council.

Bringing Iran before the Security Council, with its power to impose sanctions, would worsen tensions, said China.

China relies heavily on Iranian oil to fuel its economy while Russia is involved in building reactors for power generation.

Iran's decision to resume its nuclear program has alarmed the West, which fears the regime intends to build an atomic bomb.

However, the Islamic state has denied the accusations and insists it only wants to produce electricity.

Iran has threatened to end co-operation with the IAEA if it is brought before the Security Council.

Russian support

Russia hopes Iran will not be brought before the Security Council.

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested, after meeting German chancellor Angela Merkel in Moscow, that Iran has not ruled out conducting its uranium enrichment in Russia.

This change would allow Iran's program to be closely monitored. It would also guarantee the uranium would be enriched enough to power nuclear energy plants, but not enough to build weapons.

The IAEA has already found Iran in violation of an international treaty intended to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons technology.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said earlier Monday that the "onus is on Iran" to prove its program is peaceful. He said the international community's confidence had been "sorely undermined by a history of concealment and deception" by Iran.

However, Straw did rule out military action against Iran.

"I have ruled it out enough times in the past. Military action is not on the agenda and it is certainly not on the agenda at this meeting," he told reporters Monday.

Talks at 'dead end'

Last week, Britain, France and Germany said they wanted Iran referred to the Security Council, declaring more than two years of tense negotiations at a "dead end."

Meanwhile, Condoleezza Rice said Iran's latest actions "crossed the threshold" and that the IAEA board should hold an emergency meeting as soon as possible.

She said the United States feared that if IAEA members wait until a scheduled meeting in March, Iran would use the time to further "obfuscate" over any nuclear weapons plans, Reuters reported.

IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei told Newsweek that he could not rule out the possibility that Iran's nuclear program was aimed at the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

"If they have the nuclear material and they have a parallel weaponisation program along the way, they are really not very far -- a few months -- from a weapon," he said.

Iran's reaction

Iran's ambassador to Moscow praised Russia's efforts to reach a compromise.

"This is a good initiative to resolve the situation. We believe that Iran and Russia should find a way out of this jointly," Gholamreza Ansari said in comments translated into Russian and shown on state Channel One television.

Economic sanctions targeting Iran's oil and gas exports are thought unlikely. Iran is OPEC's second-largest producer and preventing it from doing business could disrupt the world's energy markets.

Iran's state radio reported Monday that the equivalent of $215 million US had been allocated to build the country's second and third nuclear power plants.

With files from Associated Press