The European Union is pressing ahead with plans to impose new sanctions on Iran, an EU spokesman said Wednesday after Tehran threatened to close a vital oil transit channel in response to Western measures.
The European Union is pressing ahead with plans to impose new sanctions
on
Iran
, an
EU spokesman said Wednesday after
Tehran
threatened to close a vital oil transit channel in response to Western
measures.
"The European Union is considering another set of sanctions against
Iran
and
we continue to do that," Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign affairs
chief Catherine Ashton, told AFP.
"We expect the decision will be taken in time for the foreign affairs
council on January 30," he said, referring to the next meeting of EU
foreign ministers in
Brussels
.
Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi warned Tuesday that "not a
drop of oil will pass through the
Strait of Hormuz
"
if the West broadened sanctions against
Iran
over
its nuclear program.
The
U.S.
and
the 27-nation EU are considering new sanctions aimed at
Iran
's oil
and financial sectors. But EU governments have been divided over whether to
impose an embargo on Iranian crude.
Oil from
Iran
in
2010 amounted to 5.8% of total EU imports, making
Tehran
the
bloc's fifth-largest supplier after
Russia
,
Norway
,
Libya
and
Saudi
Arabia
.
Spain
represents 14.6% of Iranian oil imports to
Europe
,
Greece
14.0%
and
Italy
13.1%.
More than a third of the world's tanker-borne oil passes through the
Strait
of Hormuz
, linking the Gulf--and its petroleum-exporting
states of
Bahrain
,
Kuwait
,
Qatar
,
Saudi
Arabia
and the
United
Arab Emirates
--to the
Indian
Ocean
.
The
U.S.
maintains a naval presence in the Gulf in large part to ensure that passage for
oil remains free.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials declined to comment on the Iranian
threat.
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