BERLIN, Feb. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Germany welcomes the decision to refer the Iran nuclear issue to the UN Security Council, said Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Saturday.

    "The resolution that we moved has been adopted with only three votes against," Steinmeier said in a statement.

    The 35-member board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had voted earlier on Saturday to refer the Iran nuclear issue to the Security Council with three votes against and five abstentions.

    "This is a convincing outcome and a clear signal to Tehran that it must take account of the deep concern of the international community at the nuclear program," the statement said.

    The foreign minister stressed that bringing the issue to the United Nations did not mean the end of diplomacy.

    "On the contrary, the resolution consciously leaves space for a continuation of diplomatic efforts," Steinmeier said in the statement.

    Also on Saturday, a senior Iranian official said that Iran will no longer consider a proposal by Russia designed to solve the nuclear standoff since the UN nuclear agency decided to report Iran to the UN Security Council.

    Speaking to the state television from Vienna, Austria, via phone, Javad Vaeedi, deputy head of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, said that under current circumstances, there was "no adequate reason" for Iran to consider a Russian proposal to transfer sensitive nuclear enrichment to the Russian soil.

    "We have no reason to seek the Russian proposal," Vaeedi stressed.

    Vaeedi also said that Iran would resume industrial-scale uranium enrichment at the facilities in the central town of Natanze according to a law ratified late last year by the Iranian Majlis (Parliament). Enditem