The European Union on Thursday agreed to sanction more than 100 Iranian companies, sharply expanding the number of firms hit by an assets freeze over Iran's disputed nuclear programme. Diplomats said the "significant expansion" in EU sanctions was expected to be approved and announced Monday by the bloc's 27 foreign ministers.
Among the firms blacklisted are the European-Iranian Trade Bank (EIH), a German-based Iranian-owned bank believed to be involved in the Islamic republic's secret nuclear weapons' programme.
An official in Berlin told AFP this week that "evidence pointing to the EIH's involvement in (nuclear) proliferation has multiplied and become tangible." Five individuals are also targeted by a travel ban and assets freeze, diplomats said. "Many of the firms are fronts" set up in Europe and "the individuals targeted are essentially their managers", said an EU diplomat who asked not to be named. In June last year, the UN Security Council slapped a fourth set of sanctions against Iran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment work, the most sensitive part of Tehran's atomic drive.