EU hesitates on energy sanctions against Iran
Published: Friday, June 20, 2008
14:30GMT—10:30AM/EST
EU – SANCTIONS – IRAN
Washington, 20 June (IranVNC)—Britain’s push for European nations to explore tighter sanctions against Iran’s oil and gas sector eased up on Thursday as European diplomats, fearing further increases in already-soaring fuel prices, said no new measures in that area were likely to be taken for months.
The European Union caution came despite assurances by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to President Bush in London earlier this week that the EU would soon start a “new phase of sanctions on oil and gas [against Iran]”.
Soaring energy prices have already prompted protests by fishermen, truckers and farmers around Europe and hitting Iran’s oil and gas now, could further push up prices.
“There are no good options with regard to sanctions on oil and gas in Iran," AP reports Mark Thomas of the Royal United Services Institute in Qatar as saying. "With oil prices as they are, it's not even an option."
There has been a growing sentiment among individual nations in the 27 member-state bloc that tougher sanctions will be considered if Iran rejects the latest international incentives package and does not suspend its uranium enrichment.
Perhaps as early as next week, the EU is expected to increase its sanctions on the banking sector by freezing the assets of Iran’s Bank Melli. But imposing sanctions on the oil and gas sector would be more complex for the European countries.
“The impact would be immediate and it would be huge,” said Frank A. Verrastro, director of the Energy and National Security Program Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
“There is not enough spare capacity in the world to cover the loss of Iran,” Verrastro said in a phone interview with AP. “The markets are bad enough. If you lost a major producer, a big exporter, there is no replacement.”
Almost four percent of EU’s energy imports are supplied by Iran, according to the latest figures by the Union’s trade department, and in 2006, the two-way trade between them amounted to 25 billion Euro [$39 billion].
Diplomats at the two-day EU summit in Brussels said that discussions on sanctions were still at a very early stage and these measures could be several months away, AP reports.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said despite the threat of further sanctions, the EU did not hold a grudge against the Islamic Republic.
“Our countries are not interested in a vendetta against Iran. We are actually interested in a cooperative relationship,” said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband as he arrived at the summit.
“But if Iran is not willing to have a cooperative relationship with the rest of the world by fulfilling its responsibilities under the non-proliferation treaty, then there are sanctions which follow,” he added.
Iranian officials, for their part, showed no willingness to stop enrichment and they have yet to respond to the incentives package offer that EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana presented to Iran on Saturday. The package offered Tehran technological and economic incentives in return for suspending its enrichment activities during negotiations.
Sources: Associated Press, Agence France-Presse
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