Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned on Tuesday that a Security Council referral would bring "an end to diplomacy" and an end to international inspections.
The warning came after Iran handed over a nuclear dossier which inspectors from the International Atomic Engrgy Agency (IAEA) said could only be used in making nuclear weapons parts.
Iranian authorities refused to let IAEA officials copy the document, only allowing the agency to place it under IAEA seal in Iran.
"If the dossier is sent to the Security Council, Iran will cease voluntary cooperation (with the International Atomic Energy Agency) from Saturday February 4," Mr Mottaki said.
He also reiterated Iran's insistence that it would carry on with its renewed nuclear research.
"We have told everyone with whom we have discussed this that there is no question of our re-suspending our nuclear research activities. That is irreversible. It must be stated that nuclear research is different than industrial production of combustible material."
The barrage of angry warnings came after foreign ministers of the five permanent UN Security Council members – Britain, the US, France, Russia and China -- agreed in London overnight to refer Iran to the council.
A referral could come during an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna on Thursday.
But in a compromise with Russia, the Security Council powers agreed to put off UN action until at least March.
The Security Council can issue warnings or impose sanctions as punitive measures in its role as an enforcement body, unlike the IAEA which has no such powers and has been investigating the Iranian nuclear program for three years.
’End to diplomacy’
Iran's top national security official, Ali Larijani, said: "Informing the Security Council or referring the Iranian case to it will bring an end to diplomacy and that is not at all positive.”
Mr Larijani said Iran would "end all voluntary measures and cease the application of the additional protocol" to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The additional protocol, which was signed by Iran but never ratified by its parliament, allows the IAEA to carry out snap inspections of Iranian nuclear sites.
The threat also included a resumption of industrial-scale enrichment – a process that can be extended to make the core of a nuclear weapon.
Iran argues that it only wants to generate electricity, and Iranian Atomic Energy Agency chief Gholamreza Agazadeh insisted there was no "legal basis" for calling in the Security Council, as the US has long been pushing for.
International reaction
The United States argues that Iran cannot be trusted with such uranium enrichment technology.
"The matter is expected to be referred this week. Iran will be given a chance to respond in terms of what it needs to do," US White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Iran was a concern to the international community and insisted that leading powers must push forward on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.
"Can there be any threat more alarming, in today's world, than that of a nuclear or biological weapon falling into the hands of terrorists, or being used by a state as a result of some terrible misunderstanding or miscalculation?” Mr Annan said.
"For 35 years the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has been remarkably successful in protecting mankind from this danger. But now it faces a very serious challenge," he warned during a speech in London.
Iran has also been appealing for more time to negotiate with Moscow on a compromise whereby Iran's uranium would be enriched on Russian soil, something that could allay objections to Iran holding dual-use technology but at the same time guarantee Iran's access to nuclear energy.
Senior Russian and Chinese diplomats will go to Tehran on Wednesday to discuss Russia's plan of creating a joint company to enrich Iranian uranium, Russian news service Interfax reported.