Vienna, Austria ? Iran struck a strident note Sunday on the eve of a meeting with the U.N. nuclear agency, warning that referring Tehran to the U.N. Security Council could lead it to expand work on a program that can make nuclear fuel – or weapons grade uranium.

Foreign Minister spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Iran was not yet contemplating uranium enrichment but warned that it may change its mind if the country is hauled before the U.N.’s top decision-making body to answer questions about its suspect nuclear activities.

A European official said the Security Council option remained on the table, suggesting much of it depended on whether the European Union and the United States were successful in eroding the resistance of council member Russia to such action.

She said that senior representatives of the European Union, the United States and Russia would meet today in New York to explore common ground. Results would determine whether the Europeans and Americans would push for immediate Security Council action or settle for something less during the IAEA board of governors’ meeting in Vienna, the official told The Associated Press.