European Union foreign ministers on Monday agreed to impose new economic sanctions on Iran, going well beyond the measures approved by a UN resolution last month. The ministers, meeting in Brussels, agreed to ban all new investment by European companies in the Iranian oil and gas sectors. This is part of what some diplomats describe as the most wide-ranging sanctions the EU has ever agreed against any country.
The measures include an asset freeze on some 40 Iranian companies believed to be linked to the country’s nuclear programme. This is in addition to the 40 companies singled out in last month’s UN resolution.
The sanctions also clamp down on financial transactions between the EU and Iran. From today onwards, any transaction worth more than €40,000 with Iran will first need approval from the national treasury of the EU country involved, the Financial Times reported. In the past, US and British diplomats have privately lamented the EU’s lack of willingness to impose more sanctions on Iran, noting the reluctance of Germany, France and Italy, Tehran’s three biggest trading partners in Europe.
