London ? European diplomats on Friday sought to entice Iran into a binding commitment not to build atomic arms by offering to provide fuel and other long-term support to help Iranians generate electricity with nuclear energy.

The Bush administration backed the offer, which came as a diplomatic effort to persuade North Korea into giving up its atomic weapons program stalled.

The proposal to Iran came from Britain, France and Germany, which are representing the European Union. They also offered greater economic, political and security cooperation if the Tehran government agrees to the plan.

Iran has long claimed its nuclear program is solely for the peaceful production of electricity, while Washington charges the real aim was to produce arms. The discovery of clandestine aspects of Iran’s program raised worries among other nations and pressures have mounted on Iran.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, announced it would hold an emergency meeting Tuesday to formally warn Iran not to resume uranium enrichment at its plant in Isfahan. The IAEA board could refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for consideration of sanctions.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the EU proposal, presented by ambassadors from the three European countries in Tehran, would be studied “today and tomorrow” and a response would be issued “soon.”

In Washington, a State Department official said the United States believed diplomacy was the best way to resolve the faceoff with Iran.

“We encourage Iran to consider positively the EU’s offer to continue to observe the Paris agreement and to refrain from taking steps that would violate the agreement such as breaking the IAEA seals at Isfahan and restarting uranium conversion,” said the State Department’s acting spokesman, Tom Casey.