BRUSSELS, July 20, (Agencies): European Union foreign ministers will adopt tighter sanctions against Iran next week, including measures to block oil and gas investment and curtail its refining and natural gas capability, EU diplomats said.

A draft declaration prepared for a meeting of EU foreign ministers showed they would approve a decision taken by EU leaders on June 17 to adopt further sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear programme, and also call on Iran to resume talks.

The measures, which go beyond steps approved by the United Nations on June 10, are designed to put pressure on Tehran to return to talks on its uranium enrichment programme which Western powers believe is designed to produce nuclear weapons.
The draft declaration says the ministers, who meet in Brussels on Monday, will approve the new sanctions “in accordance with the European Council Declaration of 17 June”, referring to the decision taken by EU leaders at a summit.

It said the measures were adopted “with a view to supporting the resolution of all outstanding concerns regarding Iran’s development of sensitive technologies in support of its nuclear and missile programmes, through negotiation”.
The declaration is still to be endorsed by EU ambassadors, meeting in Brussels this week, but big changes are unlikely.

The new EU steps focus on trade, banking and insurance, transport including shipping and air cargo, and important sectors of the gas and oil industry.
EU leaders said on June 17 the energy sector sanctions would prohibit “new investment, technical assistance and transfers of technologies, equipment and services related to these areas, in particular related to refining, liquefaction and liquefied natural gas technology”.
Iran denies its nuclear programme is aimed at producing weapons and says it is for energy and other peaceful purposes.
The measures are intended to put strong financial pressure on Iran, which is the world’s fifth largest crude oil exporter but has little refining capability.
But diplomats have also acknowledged that the impact of the sanctions will depend on steps to ensure compliance.
Traders said this month Iran was depending more on friendly powers for fuel supplies because of the sanctions intended to hinder its fuel imports, and was buying about half of its July gasoline imports from Turkey and the rest from Chinese sellers as most other suppliers had stopped selling.
The foreign ministers will also back appeals by EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton for Iran to restart talks in response to a July 6 letter from Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, that proposed resuming dialogue.
“The Council (of foreign ministers) calls on Iran to seize this opportunity to allay the concerns of the international community about its nuclear programme and agree on a concrete date for talks with the EU High Representative, together with the six countries,” the draft declaration said.
It was referring to the six powers — the United states, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — that are involved in discussions on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Jalili’s proposal was the first indication that Tehran is willing to engage with world powers on its atomic programme since the United Nations imposed its new sanctions last month.
The US Congress has also drawn up its own set of measures against Iran in addition to the UN sanctions package, parts of which were watered down by Russian and Chinese opposition.
Ashton met Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in Kabul on Tuesday and expressed her readiness to hold talks with Tehran over its nuclear programme, ISNA news agency reported.
The two met on the sidelines of an international conference in the Afghan capital attended by representatives of 70 organisations and countries, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“The meeting (between Ashton and Mottaki) was organised after Ashton asked for it,” ISNA said, quoting its Kabul reporter.
Ashton told Mottaki that she “was ready to start nuclear negotiations and that we are in contact with the Islamic republic and we are serious to find a solution acceptable for both the parties,” ISNA reported.
Delivery
Meanwhile, Russia’s Interfax news agency cites a top military official as saying the UN’s latest Iran sanctions, which Moscow has backed, rule out the delivery of missile systems.
Russia has yet to fulfill a 2007 contract with Iran over the delivery of the sophisticated S-300 defense missiles. The West has urged against arming a state suspected of running a covert nuclear weapons program.
Military official Alexander Fomin on Tuesday did not directly identify the S-300s, but pledged Moscow would desist from supplying “large missile systems” in accordance with the sanctions, Interfax reported.
It is the latest indication that the deal is dead. Last month, the Russian government said the sanctions blocked the missile sale, but Iran insisted the restrictions don’t cover existing contracts.
In a related report, ship owners can refuse to deliver refined petroleum cargoes to Iran under a new clause developed by shipping associations in the wake of tougher sanctions against the Islamic Republic, groups involved say.
The West suspects Iran’s nuclear work is aimed at bomb-making but Tehran says it is for peaceful purposes. US President Barack Obama signed into law this month new wide ranging sanctions that aim to squeeze Iran’s fuel imports and increase its international isolation.
Fearing they could be in breach of sanctions, shipping associations have created a clause in time charter party contracts allowing a ship owner to refuse a petroleum trade to Iran.
Fleet
INTERTANKO, an association whose members own the majority of the world’s tanker fleet, produced a clause in March.
“It effectively gives owners the right to refuse to go to Iran if there is an order for Iran or if they are on their way to Iran and sanctions come into force during that voyage, they can ask for fresh orders to take the cargo elsewhere,” said Michele White, general counsel with INTERTANKO.
White said the clause, which is wide enough to apply to any country which has sanctions imposed, was reviewed in July when the US measures came into force.
“We feel it is adequate to assist our members,” she said.
Iran is the world’s fifth-biggest crude oil exporter but previous US sanctions mean it has suffered from lack of investment in refineries, forcing the OPEC member to import some 40 percent of its gasoline