Japan toughens sanctions on Iran

TOKYO Dec 9 (Reuters) – Japan on Friday toughened

sanctions on Iran in response to mounting Western suspicions that Tehran plans to build nuclear weapons, following more severe, steps by the United States and the European Union.

It said it added around 100 Iranian groups and an individual to a blacklist that imposes asset freezes and now totals over 300 entities. It also raised the number of Iranian banks it has suspended correspondent banking relationships with to 20 from 17.

Japan’s move does not include ramping up its restrictions on Iran’s energy sector even after the EU laid out plans for a possible oil embargo and the U.S. last month expanded sanctions to target companies that aid Iran’s oil and petrochemical industries. 

Measures announced by Japan in September 2010 included halting all new energy-related investment in Iran and warning companies to be cautious over existing contracts.

Japan is the third biggest buyer of crude oil from Iran, OPEC’s second largest producer, after China and India.

(Reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Joseph Radford)

EU leaders call for more sanctions on Iran

By Sebastian Moffett

BRUSSELS Dec 9 (Reuters) – European Union leaders called on Friday for more sanctions against Iran by the end of January, in an effort to increase pressure on Tehran over its nuclear programme.

The leaders did not make an explicit call for an embargo on Iranian crude oil, which EU diplomats have been discussing this month as a way to respond to mounting concerns that the OPEC producer has worked to design a nuclear weapon.

Instead, they called on their foreign ministers to broaden existing sanctions, which include asset freezes and travel bans on those involved in the nuclear work. EU leaders also called on them to study “additional measures against Iran as a matter of priority and to adopt these measures no later than by its next session”, which is scheduled for Jan. 30.

The International Atomic Energy Agency last month released new evidence confirming international concerns that Iran iseeking the atom bomb. Tehran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.

Last week, EU foreign ministers agreed to develop new sanctions on Iran’s energy, transport and banking sectors. Diplomats said a ban on imports of Iranian oil into Europe was under discussion.

The sanctions have had an impact on Iran’s economy, experts say, but they have not achieved their aim of stopping work that the West suspects is aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

Iran’s international isolation deepened after protesters stormed two British diplomatic compounds on Nov. 30, smashing windows, torching a car and burning the British flag in protest against new sanctions imposed by London.

Iran is OPEC’s number two oil producer and exports 2.6 million barrels a day, depending heavily on oil revenues.

France, backed by Germany and Britain, has led the push to ban its crude, but some states, notably Greece, have expressed reservations, because of their reliance on Iranian oil.

At a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Thursday, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said EU governments were trying to resolve this dilemma. “We are working on these subjects to see how we can ensure that certain European countries are not penalized by an embargo on petroleum exports,” he said. (Reporting By Sebastian Moffett; editing by Mark John)