European Union foreign ministers Monday gave their formal approval to a fresh, wide-reaching package of sanctions against Iran and called on the Islamic republic to urgently comply with its international obligations regarding its contested nuclear program.
European Union foreign ministers Monday gave their formal approval to a
fresh, wide-reaching package of sanctions against
Iran
and
called on the Islamic republic to urgently comply with its international
obligations regarding its contested nuclear program.
In a joint statement, EU ministers voiced "serious and deepening
concerns" over
Iran
's
nuclear program and the expansion of its uranium enrichment capacities and
called on the regime to cooperate with international nuclear inspectors.
Iran
insists that its nuclear activities are for peaceful, civilian purposes.
The sanctions, seen as the toughest set of measures against Teheran since the
EU's embargo on Iranian oil imports in July, is the latest effort by the
27-member bloc to bring Iran back to the negotiating table after half-a-year of
deadlocked talks, and target financial institutions, trade, energy and
shipping.
"The restrictive measures agreed today are aimed at affecting
Iran
's
nuclear program and revenues of the Iranian regime to fund its program and are
not aimed at the Iranian people," the statement said.
One cornerstone of the latest measures is a ban on all financial transactions
between European and Iranian banks, unless they relate to humanitarian aid. The
Central Bank of
Iran
will
face fresh restrictions and the export of materials and metals used for
industrial or military purposes will be prohibited. New rules will seeks to
curb the movement of Iranian oil tankers and cargos and impede the country's
ship building capacities.
"The sanctions... are all part of a twin-track approach," French
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters. "We continue to both
negotiate and to maintain the pressure." His German counterpart, Guido
Westerwelle accused Teheran of "playing for time," and insisted that
EU sanctions were having an impact on the regime's ability to fund its nuclear
activities.
As she arrived for the talks in
Luxembourg
, the
EU's Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, who represents six major nations at
international negotiations with Teheran, said she hoped for a breakthrough with
Iran
very
soon. "I hope we will be able to make progress very soon," Baroness
Ashton said at the start of the meeting. However, no new date for talks have
been set, according to European diplomats.
Syria
was
also hit with a new round of sanctions on Monday, as the EU took more steps to
curb the import of arms into
Syria
and
prohibit any EU involvement in the transport of Syrian weapons. In addition,
two firms and 28 individuals involved in the violent repression against the
civilian population will face an asset ban and a travel freeze, bringing to 181
the number of people and 54 the companies on the EU's blacklist.
As ministers endorsed this nineteenth round of sanctions since the conflict in
Syria
began
last march, they urged strong language to call on President Bashar Al-Assad to
end the bloodshed in his country and condemned shelling by Syrian forces across
the Turkish border.
"The EU warns against further militarization of the conflict,"
Baroness Ashton said. "We call on all states to refrain from delivering
arms to
Syria
and
to follow the EU in stopping the supplies that fuel the fighting."
Separately, the EU is also looking into ways to provide military training to an
African-led mission to
Mali
, to
restore rule of law in the north of the country after the military coup earlier
this year.
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