Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only
The European Union has agreed to impose fresh sanctions on 180 Iranian officials and firms over Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme.
Ministers meeting in Brussels also agreed to work on other measures that could target Iran’s energy sector.
The sanctions follow a UN report linking Iran to the development of a nuclear weapon. Iran denies the claims.
The EU measures also come two days after hundreds of Iranian protesters stormed the UK embassy in Tehran.
Britain announced on Wednesday it was expelling all Iranian diplomats from London, after pulling its own out of Tehran.
A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told the BBC that the new sanctions would target 39 people and 141 companies and would include the freezing of assets and travel bans.
EU ministers said in a statement: “The council agreed to broaden existing sanctions by examining, in close co-ordination with international partners, additional measures including measures aimed at severely affecting the Iranian financial system, in the transport sector, in the energy sector.”
Correspondents say foreign ministers failed to agree on an oil embargo against Iran because some EU countries are dependent on Iranian oil.
Ministers said a decision on future measures would be taken no later than January.
Officials say the latest sanctions are not linked to the storming of the British Embassy in Tehran on Tuesday.
However, ministers denounced the attack and said the EU would take “appropriate measures in response”.
The statement did not specify what those would be.
Ahead of the Brussels talks, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said he wanted “an intensification of the economic pressure”, particularly the isolation of Iran’s financial sector.
BBC