Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, headed back to Washington from Europe last night without a clear commitment of support from her allies on when they should refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council over its alleged nuclear weapons programme.

In London, Ms Rice backed away from calling for the next meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors on November 24 to refer Iran to the Security Council as a first step towards possible sanctions for past breaches of its safeguards commitments.