Britain warns Iran sanctions 'will be difficult'

A senior British official has warned an agreement on new international sanctions against Iran will be difficult.

Britain and other leading powers announced this week that they would be seeking new measures in the United Nations Security Council after Tehran rejected a call to freeze its uranium enrichment work in return for talks on economic assistance.

Diplomats from the so-called E3+3 group of Britain, France, and Germany plus the US, Russia, and China, are expected to begin detailed discussions in the autumn on a package of financial sanctions.

However one UK official acknowledged that finding agreement on a common text was unlikely to be easy.

He said: "I have no illusions that it will be difficult, as it was last time, to actually agree the text of some tough sanctions in the Security Council."

The new package is expected to build on existing UN financial measures.

However the British official confirmed that the UK, US, and France were looking at further sanctions of their own aimed at Iran's lucrative energy sector.

He added: "We are at a fairly early stage in this but there are areas of the Iranian economy that are vulnerable to some targeted sanctions, whether they be in the energy sector, investment in the oil and gas sector, imported refined products, reinsurance, and other financial areas, which we would look at if we were looking to increase pressure on the Iranian leadership."

The E3+3 have been calling for Iran to halt uranium enrichment - a key stage in developing a nuclear weapon - amid fears that the ultimate goal of the programme is to build a bomb.

The Iranians have always insisted that its nuclear programme is purely for civil power generation.

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