Britannia Radio

'EU to extend sanctions against Iran'

Fri May 20, 2011 1:6AM

EU diplomats say the bloc is expected to extend its sanctions against Iran despite Tehran's offer to resume talks with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.

The European Union is expected to add about 100 companies to its embargo list in the latest round of sanctions, which is due to be approved and announced Monday by the bloc's foreign ministers, AFP quoted EU diplomats as saying on Thursday. 

According to diplomats, who asked not to be named, Germany's Hamburg-based Europaeisch-Iranische Handelsbank (European-Iranian Trade Bank, EIH) would be included in the bloc's new sanctions. 

Reports say the US and Israel have pressured Germany to impose sanctions against the bank as part of Washington's propaganda against Tehran. 

The measure comes despite Iran's readiness to resume negotiations with P5+1 members, including China, France, Russia, Britain and the US plus Germany. 

On May 7, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili said in a letter to European Union's Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton that Tehran welcomes talks with the P5+1 based on a common ground and in a pressure-free atmosphere. 

The UN Security Council adopted a fourth round of sanctions against Tehran in June 2010 under intense US pressure, which claims Iran's nuclear program may have potential military applications. 

Shortly after the UN sanctions, the US imposed fresh unilateral sanctions on Iran's financial and energy sectors, encouraging other countries to abandon investment in the Iranian market. 

Iran says that as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it has a right to use the peaceful applications of nuclear energy for electricity generation and medical research.