The White House said on Wednesday that Iran has made a "serious miscalculation" by clearing the way to resume uranium enrichment and that intensive diplomacy was under way with European allies and others about what to do now. White House spokesman Scott McClellan, traveling with President George W. Bush on a brief trip to Kentucky, told reporters that if the European-led negotiations had run their course, then there was no other option but to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.Iran removed U.N. seals at uranium enrichment research facilities on Tuesday and announced it would resume "research and development" on producing uranium fuel, prompting angry reactions from Washington, the European Union and Russia. "I think that the Iranian regime has made another serious miscalculation by their latest actions, and we are engaged in some intensive diplomacy right now. We are talking with our European friends and others about how to move ahead and those discussions continue," McClellan said.
He said the international community had given Iran a chance to negotiate in good faith, but instead Tehran "is showing yet again that they are going to ignore the demands of the international community, and I think that's a serious miscalculation."
"We believe that if the negotiations have run their course and Iran is not going to negotiate in good faith, then there's no other option but to refer the matter to the Security Council," McClellan said. "If that happens then we would talk about what actions need to be taken at that time."
In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called for the U.N. Security Council to consider action against Iran. Iran says its nuclear program is entirely peaceful. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has found no firm proof to the contrary.