Reuters: European foreign ministers will debate on Monday options for possible restrictive measures against Iran, including eventual financial sanctions, if Tehran continues to defy calls to halt sensitive nuclear activity.
LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – European foreign ministers will debate on Monday options for possible restrictive measures against Iran, including eventual financial sanctions, if Tehran continues to defy calls to halt sensitive nuclear activity.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana has drawn up a document listing the options and it will be discussed by the ministers at a meeting in Luxembourg, an EU official said.
“It’s a comprehensive paper for discussion today. It sets out a range of options but makes no recommendations. We don’t expect any decision today,” the official said before the start of Monday’s meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A spokeswoman for Solana said she confirmed the document existed but declined to comment further.
The ministers are due to adopt a statement on Iran on Monday, again calling on the country to cooperate with the United Nations nuclear agency and suspend uranium enrichment activities and criticising Iran’s human rights record.
The statement will also reiterate the European Union’s preference for a negotiated solution but would not mention possible restrictive measures, diplomats have said.
The document drawn up by Solana was circulated to ministers at their request after their regular meeting in March.
The official stressed it had nothing to do with media reports of the United States contemplating military action against Iran.
The idea of the document was to anticipate what might happen if Iran did not comply with calls from the U.N. Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency for Iran to halt enrichment activities, the official said.
