UK Foreign Secretary Hague welcomes new EU sanctions against Iran

[News_Editor]

UK Foreign Secretary Hague welcomes new EU sanctions against Iran

2010-10-26 07:30:22 GMT+7 (ICT)

LUXEMBOURG (BNO NEWS) -- Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague on Monday welcomed the adoption of European Union (EU) regulations that impose new and tougher sanctions against Iran.

"We've adopted the implementing regulations for the Iran sanctions that we agreed at the end of July. That is very important in itself," the Foreign Secretary said after the General Affairs Council and Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg.

The new sanctions, which will come into force this week, will further expand and deepen the measures adopted in United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution 1929. The sanctions are aimed at Iran's energy and financial sectors.

"That is the European Union using its collective weight in the world, absolutely in the right way, working with the United States and sending a clear message to Iran that it is important to negotiate on its nuclear program and that the pressure from Europe will intensify in the absence of those negotiations," Hague added, indicating that further sanctions are possible.

With the sanctions, European companies and businessmen will not be able to make new investments in Iran's oil and gas sector as well as exporting to Iran many key goods that relate to the energy sector. In the financial sector, all payments to Iran that exceed €40,000 ($56,000) will be subject to approval.

The new sanctions were imposed in order to prevent money being transferred or invested in Iran or being diverted to fund its nuclear program or to other prohibited activities in the energy sector. Hague added that the UK urges Iran to accept the EU's invitation to substantive talks on its nuclear program.

Iran, however, denies that it is doing anything illegal and insists that its nuclear program is peaceful.

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