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EU approves Iran sanctions
European Union foreign ministers approved a regulation on Monday implementing United Nations sanctions against Iran after it refused to halt uranium enrichments, officials said. The sanctions are targeted against individuals and organisations involved in Tehran's disputed nuclear and missile programmes, which the West suspects are aimed at making an atomic bomb. The EU list, which was not immediately made public, goes beyond persons identified in U.N. resolutions. EU officials said the regulation and a common political position opened the way for further names to be added to the list of persons denied entry to the 27-nation EU and whose assets are frozen. On Wednesday, Iran and the European Union will resume talks in Turkey on Tehran's nuclear programme, which the West fears is aimed at building an atomic bomb, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Monday. "Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana have agreed to hold atomic talks in Turkey," an unnamed official told Fars. The official said Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan had talks with Larijani and Solana in the past days over the issue. "I am going to meet him (Larijani) on Wednesday, in Turkey. I expect to begin resumption of the talks that we left some time ago to see if we can move towards negotiations," Solana told reporters as he arrived for a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg. It will be Solana and Larijani's first such meeting since the United Nations passed fresh sanctions on Iran in March after Tehran refused to halt uranium enrichment work. There was no immediate comment from the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Posted by: Fred 2007-04-24 |
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