Iran oil embargo set to be agreed by EU; U.S. ‘prepared to deal’ with Tehran

A freeze on the assets of Iran’s central bank alongside a planned embargo on oil exports have been agreed in principal by European Union governments, EU diplomats said on Wednesday.

“On the central bank, things have been moving in the right direction in the last hours. There is now a wide agreement on the principle. Discussions continue on the details,” one EU diplomat said.

Iran faces trade hurdles over its nuclear program, which the United States and its European allies say is aimed at building bombs.

Iran says it needs nuclear technology to generate electricity and other peaceful purposes.

But most Western countries believe the drive masks the development nuclear weapons − a suspicion strengthened though not confirmed by a November report by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

EU envoys have stepped up talks in recent days to prepare a package of new sanctions against Tehran, with the aim of adopting them at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.

They have previously agreed in principle to ban the imports of Iranian crude to the EU but are still deciding when the embargo would start and how it will be implemented.

The main concern among some EU member states is to avoid sanctions on the central bank blocking trade in allowed goods, diplomats said.

NATO, meanwhile, urged Iran on Wednesday to ensure the security of energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz but said the Western military alliance had no plans to intervene in the area.

Iran has threatened to block the vital oil shipping route of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if sanctions imposed on its oil exports.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Brussels it was of “utmost importance to make sure energy supplies continue to grow through the vital waterway”.

“I would like to stress that the Iranian authorities have a duty to act as responsible international actors,” he told a news conference after meeting Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. “NATO has no plans of intervention.”

Turkey optimism

Meanwhile, Turkey’s foreign minister on Wednesday was optimistic on Iran talks. Ahmet Davutoglu said that both Iran and global powers were ready and willing to restart talks on Tehran’s controversial nuclear program.

“Both sides declared the intention to meet and to restart the negotiations” but “of course it is up to both sides to decide,” Davutoglu said during a visit to NATO headquarters.

The minister told journalists that during his recent visit to Tehran “Iran declared that they are ready to restart the talks.”

“Before that I had consultations with Madame (Catherine) Ashton,” who represents six world powers in the nuclear negotiations with Iran which have been in limbo for a year.

“She in fact asked me to consult this with the Iranian side as well. And afterwards I talked with Madame Ashton again,” he said. “We will be happy to host this new round of talks.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said during a visit to Turkey Wednesday that the next round of talks would probably be in Istanbul and that a date would be set in the near future, Turkish media reported.

Davutoglu is to meet Salehi on Thursday and join EU foreign ministers for talks on Monday that will touch both on Iran and Syria.

But a spokesman for Ashton was less optimistic than Davutoglu.

“We’ve always said we’re open for talks,” Michael Mann told AFP. “However we will not do so until there’s a response from Iran in substance to the (EU) High Representative’s letter of October last year.”

Ashton sent a letter to Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in October proposing renewed talks as long as Tehran imposed no pre-conditions, but Mann said she had still not received a formal reply.

Ashton’s spokesman said the group − permanent U.N Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus non-permanent member Germany − has repeatedly said it is “open for discussions on confidence-building measures on the Iranian nuclear program, without pre-conditions from the Iranian side.”

The last round of talks took place in Turkey in January 2011.

U.S. prepared to deal with Iranian threat

Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday that the U.S. military is fully prepared to deal with any threats by Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz, adding that no “special steps” were being taken at this point to bolster American forces in the region.

The United States says it will not allow Iran to block the strait, used for a third of the world’s seaborne oil exports. The potential standoff has fanned fears of a descent into war in the Gulf that could inflame the Middle East.

“We are not (taking) any special steps at this point in order to deal with the situation,” Panetta said, referring to whether Iran’s threats had prompted a repositioning of U.S. forces in the region

“Why? Because frankly we are fully prepared to deal with that situation now,” he added.

U.S. analysts say Iran’s navy does not have the size for a sustained physical blockade of the Strait, but does have mine-laying and missile capability.

General Martin Dempsey, the top U.S. military officer, also publicly expressed confidence earlier this month that the U.S. military could reopen the strait if Iran blocked it. However, there has been speculation that additional U.S. forces might be needed to do so, and U.S. media have been closely watching the movements of U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups.

Panetta noted the United States already had a robust military posture around the Gulf.