Vienna, Austria ? The European Union on Thursday offered to delay its drive to bring Iran before the U.N. Security Council for its suspect atomic activities if Russia and China will agree to a new resolution that criticizes Tehran for violating nuclear commitments.

If an agreement is not reached, however, the EU, backed by the United States, planned to force a vote on the tougher resolution.

The new U.S.-backed European offer was contained in a text threatening Tehran only with referral to the Security Council at a later date. The previous EU draft resolution – which also remained on the table – urged the 35 nations on the International Atomic Energy Agency board of directors to report Iran to the U.N.’s highest decision-making body during the board’s current session.

Neither version mentions sanctions, in recognition that veto-wielding Security Council members Russia and China were opposed.

Diplomats familiar with the West’s strategy said the Europeans were keeping both options alive, urging the more than a dozen board members opposed to referral to accept the toned-down version or face the prospect of having the board vote on the earlier hard-line text. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Accompanied by armed forces commanders, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, second left, reviews, Iran's Shahab-3 missile, a weapon capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching Europe, Israel and U.S. forces in the Middle East. The weapon was displayed Thursday during a parade ceremony, marking the 25th anniversary of the outset of the Iran-Iraq war.

While not directly asking for Security Council referral, the new text finds Iran in noncompliance of commitments to the IAEA that would normally warrant such action.

And it holds out the threat of future referral, saying that the next board meeting “will address the timing and content” of a new IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear activities to see if it gives reason to decide that Iran is still violating agency rules that mandate hauling it before the council.

The earlier draft requests directly that IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei report to the Security Council “Iran’s many failures and breaches of its obligations to comply” with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The draft also asks the council to expand IAEA inspection powers in Iran and to request that Tehran resume a recently broken freeze on activities linked to uranium enrichment – the possible pathway to nuclear weapons.

A senior diplomat from a nonaligned country opposed to referral said the new draft also would likely be unacceptable to a large majority of those opposing the earlier version because it would ask the board to accept that Iran is in noncompliance of its IAEA obligations. That wording would help supporters of referral in any later attempt to push for Security Council involvement.