France has urged its European partners to follow the US lead and impose an embargo on Iranian oil exports and freeze Iranian central bank assets, as tension with Tehran escalates.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said it was time to toughen sanctions – along the lines President Nicolas Sarkozy had proposed in late November. "France ... wants sanctions toughened and the president (Sarkozy) has made two concrete proposals on that front – the first being the freezing of Iranian central bank assets, a tough measure, and the second an embargo on Iranian oil exports,
President Barack Obama signed new sanctions against Iran into law.
If enforced strictly, the sanctions could make it nearly impossible for most refiners to buy crude from Iran, the world's fourth biggest producer.
The United Nations Security Council has already imposed four rounds of global sanctions on Iran over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear activities.
Talks between Iran and six world powers – the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany – are in stalemate.
