The United States said Wednesday it is "very good news" that European Union governments are moving toward an oil embargo against Iran in a bid to curb its nuclear ambitions.
In Brussels, diplomats said the EU governments have reached a preliminary agreement on an oil embargo against Iran but are debating when it should come into force.
State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland summed it up as "very good news and the result of lots of consultations among us, between the US and EU countries."
She said the development is "very, very welcome, and supportive of the intent of the Congress when it passed the new legislation at the end of the year."
US President Barack Obama on the final day of 2011 signed into law tough new sanctions targeting Iran's central bank and financial sector, in a move that could intensify a brewing Gulf showdown.
The sanctions are meant to hit Iran's crucial oil sector and require foreign firms to make a choice between doing business with Tehran's financial sector and central bank or the mighty US economy.
Nuland hoped for even broader sanctions.
"So these [EU measures] are the kinds of steps that we would like to see not just from our close allies and partners in places like Europe but from countries around the world," she said.
"Because we do believe that this is consistent with tightening the noose on Iran economically," Nuland also said, adding: "We think that the place to get Iran's attention is with regard to its oil sector."
-AFP/NOW Lebanon
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Source: http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=348979
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