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Nuke watchdog to give Iran report

U.S. refuses to rule out possible military action

Iran's nuclear facilities

• Supreme leader issues warning

• Iran leader: Sanctions unlikely

• Rice: Iran getting more isolated

WHAT'S NEXT?

A look at the next steps in international efforts to pressure Iran over its nuclear program:

Tuesday, May 2 -- Officials from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany -- who report directly to their foreign ministers -- meet in France to discuss strategy on Iran.

Wednesday, May 3 -- The Security Council is expected to meet informally on the report.

Tuesday, May 9 -- The foreign ministers of the Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany meet at U.N. headquarters in New York. The council will meet on Iran formally after those talks.

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS

(CNN) -- The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei releases his report on Iran's uranium enrichment program on Friday, a move that could increase global tensions over how to deal with Tehran's ambitions.

The United Nations Security Council will meet informally on May 3 to discuss the contents of the report, which is likely to suggest Tehran has failed to comply with council requests to suspend uranium enrichment.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief ElBaradei also was expected to say Iran was still stalling IAEA inquiries into its nuclear work, the other salient issue cited in a 30-day Council deadline for Iranian cooperation, Reuters reports.

But key members of the council are at odds over the best way to respond to Iran's non-compliance, with strong differences of opinion over the use of economic and political sanctions.

The United States is also not ruling out possible military action against Iran by pushing for a "Chapter VII" resolution of the Security Council.

Speaking Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Iran was "highly unlikely" to bow to international pressure to curb its nuclear program.

Speaking in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia at a NATO ministerial meeting, Rice said the international community "cannot have its will ignored."

On Wednesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to retaliate against any U.S. action, according to a report from the state-run news agency, IRNA.

"They will suffer two times if they dare to inflict any damage on Iranian interests," Khamenei said. (Full story)

But any quick agreement by the council on what action to take seems unlikely with permanent members China and Russia opposed to using sanctions.

Both nations called Thursday for greater diplomatic efforts to be made to resolve the nuclear standoff.

"We hope the relevant parties can keep calm and exercise restraint to avoid moves that would further escalate the situation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated Russia's position in support of the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and Iran's right to develop nuclear energy for power generation.

"Iran must have an opportunity to develop modern technologies and peaceful nuclear energy," Putin said Thursday.

U.S. President George W. Bush has consistently said that no option is off the table for dealing with Iran.

Reporters asked Bush last week if that included the possibility of a nuclear strike.

"All options are on the table," Bush replied. "We want to solve this issue diplomatically, and we're working hard to do so."

Bush earlier this month referred to media coverage as "wild speculation" after The New Yorker magazine reported that the administration was considering a tactical nuclear strike to take out Iran's atomic program.

Iran's hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has vowed that "no one" could make his country give up nuclear technology.

Iran maintains its nuclear research is for a future civilian energy program, but the United States and several other countries contend that the work is a guise to hide its development of nuclear weapons.

Iran declared on April 11 that it had produced enriched uranium in concentrations capable of running a nuclear power plant.

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