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QUESTION: Can you confirm that the U.S. has agreed with the EU-3 that it does not want to seek a referral on Iran at the coming IAEA meeting?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, I think that we do have a Board of Governors meeting that is coming up at the -- towards the end of this week. We are still in consultations with the EU-3, as well as other members of the IAEA Board of Governors. As Secretary Rice has said, we believe that given Iran's past behavior that it should be referred to the Security Council, but we will reserve the right to seek that action at the time of our choosing. We believe that at this point in time, we do have the votes -- the votes for a referral to the Security Council. But again, we are going to continue our diplomatic consultations with our EU-3 partners, as well as other members of the Board of Governors. Under Secretary Burns recently had some consultations in London. Those were good consultations concerning this matter. I think at this point, we are going to see how the diplomacy unfolds in the next several days.

In terms of where the focus is on this matter, I know that it is of real interest whether or not the majority of the members of the Board of Governors is going to seek Iranian -- referral of Iran to the Security Council. But the real focus needs to be on Iran's behavior. We recently had a report from the IAEA concerning Iran's behavior and their potential pursuit of a nuclear weapon. It has been reported by all of you, the Iranians turned over some documentation that looked at how to shape hemispheres of enriched uranium. Well, there's really one only use for that and that is in building a nuclear weapon. We ourselves have expressed for quite some time our concern about Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon. And we believe that we have a growing and emerging international consensus right now that everybody agrees that Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon is destabilizing and not in the interest of anybody. So we're pursuing a diplomatic course in the IAEA to see that that does not happen and we have been quite pleased with progress to date in terms of building a consensus within a diplomatic consensus within the IAEA Board of Governors that sends a very strong message to Iran that they will not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a peaceful nuclear program. I would note that at the last Board of Governors meeting there was only one country who voted with Iran, and that was Venezuela.

QUESTION: Is the bottom line from all of that answer that you have yet to make a decision or -- and therefore reports saying that a decision has been made due to opposition from Russia and China are premature?

MR. MCCORMACK: I think at this point we're going to wait to see how the diplomacy unfolds over the next several days. The focus should be on Iran and its behavior and its need to come clean -- come fully -- to fully come clean with the rest of the world about their pursuit of nuclear weapons.

QUESTION: Diplomacy with other members of the IAEA or diplomacy with Iran? You expect something to change between now and Thursday?

MR. MCCORMACK: I expect that we will be talking to other members of the Board of Governors as well as with the EU-3.

QUESTION: Do you have the Russians and the Chinese on board when you say that there's this growing international consensus? No? (Laughter.)

MR. MCCORMACK: Again, we're going to continue some discussions over the next few days.

QUESTION: Sean, there's an inference here. You seem positive, unqualifiably, that there's a case to be made for referring Iran to the UN, and yet you say we'll choose the timing. So there are at least two possibilities here. One is that Iran -- there's still time for Iran to undo its misbehavior or is the timing issue something related to your efforts to make sure that the UN will act the right way when it gets referral? What is the timing issue? If you have Iran coldly in violation, what would undo that?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, what we're trying to do, Barry, is we're trying to take the most effective diplomatic action and we're trying to encourage Iran to get back to the negotiating table, to get back to the negotiations with the EU-3. There have been a number of ideas that they have put forward, but you can't have a one-sided negotiations -- negotiation. You need to have somebody to talk to on the other side of the table. That is what the EU-3 has been lacking to this point. They've been lacking Iranian participation. They have been lacking Iranian interlocutors on the other side of that table in order to resolve this diplomatically. The EU-3 and others have put forward some interesting ideas, but -- and the Iranians have had an initial reaction which was, some described as cool to these proposals.

But in order to really get an honest reaction from them, you need to have a negotiation in terms of the EU-3. We're encouraging Iran to get back to the negotiating table with the EU-3 at this point, so that's really the focus of our diplomatic activities and that's, in answer to your question, Barry, what our immediate goal is in support of the EU-3.

Yes.

QUESTION: You said that you had good consultation on Friday in London. Did the Chinese participate in this consultation?

MR. MCCORMACK: Not to my knowledge.

QUESTION: There's an Iranian exile who's given a news conference today and making what he calls revelations about Iran's nuclear programs, that they're twofold, mainly: that Iran has this very extensive network of underground tunnels to hide its missile production; and that North Korea is helping in that production. So my questions are do you -- does the U.S. Government share the thought that these things are actually going on and have you asked the IAEA to examine them?

MR. MCCORMACK: I haven't seen the news conference that you're referring to, Saul. We have -- we and the rest of the world, I think, have seen as the Iranians seek to sort of drip out piece by piece their nuclear program, and I would say doing so grudgingly; that this is a program that is covert, it's hidden from sight and it's hidden through a variety of different means.

As for these specific reports, I can't speak to them, Saul. I don't know. There's been a certainly, a very mixed record in terms of some of these groups in talking about so-called revelations about Iran's nuclear programs, but you know, I can't speak to these particular allegations.

QUESTION: Thanks.

QUESTION: One more, Sean. You said -- in response to Barry, you said that you have a lack of a partner, a negotiating -- well the EU-3 --

MR. MCCORMACK: No, the EU-3.

QUESTION: I'm sorry. The EU-3 has a lack of a negotiating partner and that you have the votes for referral.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: So those seem to be -- that seems to be a non sequitur to me. If you -- if they're not negotiating and you have the votes, what would keep you from making a referral?

MR. MCCORMACK: Because what we are trying to do and what the Secretary has made very clear is that we are exerting every diplomatic effort that we possibly can in this regard --

QUESTION: (Inaudible)amount of effort?

MR. MCCORMACK: I think at this point we want to get them back to the negotiating table. We want to give them every opportunity to do so. You know, as the Secretary has said and as I just said, we believe we have the votes to refer them to the Security Council. It's an option that's out there.

QUESTION: They don't seem nervous.

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, let's see. Let's see what their reaction is. I don't think that the Iranian people would want their country to join others who may have -- who are under the Security Council resolution or have been referred to the Security Council. So we're trying to work with the international community to give the Iranians every opportunity to avail themselves of the negotiating mechanism that is out there and to avail themselves of some potentially very interesting offers, as have been outlined by the EU-3.

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