Wall Street Journal: European Union officials will weigh next week a French-led effort to ban Iranian oil imports in what would mark an unprecedented step against the world’s third-largest oil exporter over its alleged nuclear-bomb program.
EU looks at banning Iranian oil
Iran denies purchasing Syrian crude-report
Reuters: Iran denied on Friday reports that the Islamic state had purchased crude from sanctions-hit ally Syria, the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted a senior oil official as saying.
UK says considering fresh sanctions on Iran
Reuters: Britain expects to announce sanctions on further Iranian “entities and individuals” at a European Union foreign ministers’ meeting on Dec. 1, the Foreign Office said.
Italy oil sector fears inevitable ban on Iran crude
Reuters: Italian sanctions prohibiting imports of crude oil from Iran are inevitable and will come at a cost to the region’s oil companies, the director of Italy’s oil industry body said.
French slip on solo Iran oil ban puts spotlight on EU
Reuters: A slip by a French government official on Thursday, mistakenly suggesting Paris was about to unilaterally ban Iranian oil imports, has raised expectations that European Union countries could consider a boycott of the OPEC producer’s oil sales to step up the pressure on Tehran over its nuclear programme.
U.N. atomic chief boosts efforts to inspect Iran
Wall Street Journal: The United Nations’ nuclear chief, Yukiya Amano, is stepping up efforts to gain access to Iranian scientists, secret documents and military sites, even as Tehran unleashes new attacks against his credibility and mandate.
Italy looks to persuade its firms to drop Iran oil
Reuters: Italy believes sanctions should be tightened against Iran, and is seeking to persuade its companies to stop buying Iranian oil, the spokesman for Italy’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
S.Korea might ban Iran petchem imports-sources
Reuters: South Korea might ban Iranian petrochemical product imports following pressure from the United States to beef up sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear programme, sources said, although the measure would have a limited economic impact.
EU to urge member states to accept Iranian exiles
AP: An official says the EU’s foreign policy chief will urge the member countries to accept some of the Iranians living in a refugee settlement in Iraq.
France to put unilateral ban on Iranian oil imports
Reuters: France will unilaterally stop importing oil from Iran, the first European country to do so, as part of an effort to isolate Tehran because of its nuclear programme.
