US officials praise EU sanctions on Iran

The European Union barred importing Iranian oil on Monday, marking the latest international effort to pressure Tehran over its nuclear program.

European officials have also decided to freeze assets that the Iranian central bank has stored on the continent, and will ease into the ban on the country’s oil.

In a statement, the EU said their sanctions would target the funding sources for Iran’s nuclear agenda, with officials on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean believing that Tehran is pushing to construct nuclear weapons.

In the United States, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Europe’s move, which comes just weeks after President Obama signed into law a new round of sanctions on Iran.

In a statement, Geithner and Clinton said that the pressure from the United States and the international community “will sharpen the choice for Iran’s leaders and increase their cost of defiance of basic international obligations.”

“The United States and our international partners are committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons,” the two secretaries added. “That is why we have pursued a dual-track policy that puts pressure on Iran to engage seriously in discussions with the international community on its nuclear program.”

According to news reports from Iran, officials fired back over the new sanctions, dubbing them a Western attempt to fight a psychological war against Iran and declaring that other countries will pick up Europe’s slack when it comes to purchasing oil.

Iranian officials have also again threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a key channel for oil shipping, according to news reports. Tehran says its nuclear program is to help develop domestic energy.

The Energy Information Administration says that the EU currently imports the second-largest amount of Iranian crude, taking in roughly 18 percent of Tehran’s exports between January and June of last year.

By themselves, Italy and Spain accounted for about 70 percent of the Iranian crude imported by the EU.

China imported 22 percent of Iranian crude during that same time period, the EIA said. Japan, India and South Korea also brought in a significant amount of crude from Iran.

In the sanctions announced Monday, the European Union said that countries that had already contracted to buy oil from Iran could do so until July 1. The new sanctions also forbid the trade of gold, diamonds and other precious metals with the Iranian central bank.

The new American penalties against Iran, tucked into the defense authorization bill that Congress passed late last year, mandates that the United States sanction foreign banks that engage in significant business with Tehran’s central bank.

Under the sanctions, authored by Sens. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), state-owned banks can only be penalized for oil-related transactions.

A Treasury official said last week that the Obama administration was already using the new sanctions to cut into Iran’s access to oil profits, and was working on regulations for the legislation.

The department on Monday also sanctioned Bank Tejarat, Iran's third-largest bank, for aiding Tehran's nuclear program.

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