A UN report on Iran's nuclear programme is being forwarded to the UN Security Council for consideration of possible punitive action.

The UN nuclear watchdog took the decision after debating the document - which contains criticism of Iran.

The US says the council will debate Iran's "flagrant threats and phoney negotiations" early next week...

The Security Council has the power to impose sanctions, but it is not clear that all its key members would back them.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that such measures would be ineffective.

"I don't think sanctions as a means to solve a crisis have ever achieved a goal in the recent history," he told reporters...

...Hours earlier, Iran threatened the United States with “harm and pain” for its role in hauling Tehran before the Security Council.

“The United States may have the power to cause harm and pain but it is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if the United States wishes to choose that path, let the ball roll,” it said in a statement obtained by Reuters on the sidelines of a U.N. nuclear watchdog board meeting in Vienna...