Amidst increasing concerns over Iran's nuclear programme, the Bush administration is said to have dispatched intelligence experts to India and China to brief them on Teheran's alleged efforts to develop a missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.

The move came as the United States and its European allies are believed to have faced resistance in pushing their case for referring Iran's nuclear activities to the United Nations Security Council, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Iran has resumed uranium enrichment programme: IAEA

The American concerns came up for discussion during a meeting President George W Bush [Images] had with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] shortly after his arrival from Paris.

India has stuck to its position that Iran should fulfill its international obligations on building its nuclear programme, while diplomacy should be given a chance to seek a consensus on how to bring Teheran around.

IAEA challenges Iran to disprove US charges

The US has already shared the intelligence with Britain, which supported the Iraq war, and with France [Images] and Germany [Images], which opposed it, as well as top officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The daily said quoting officials that the US had also offered to brief Russia [Images] on the missile data and may share the findings with other countries in coming days.

Pak firms gave nuke help to Iran: Report

The confrontation with Iran will be a central topic at the UN summit New York and at next week's IAEA board meeting in Vienna, it said.

Recognising the pivotal role China and Russia will play as veto-wielding members of the Security Council, Bush has said he planned to "speak candidly about Iran" in private meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Vladimir Putin [Images].

In recent days, India and Russia, among others, have opposed a security council referral. Iran insists that it has a right to pursue a peaceful nuclear programe that finds support around the world.

India commits support to Iran's peaceful nuke programme