European foreign ministers reviewed options for steps against Iran for the first time today, including possible visa bans and financial sanctions if Tehran presses on with sensitive nuclear activity.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who drafted a confidential options paper for the 25 ministers, and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw insisted it was just a contingency-planning exercise and sanctions were not imminent.
The ministers appealed to Iran in a statement to comply with UN calls to suspend all nuclear enrichment-related activities and reaffirmed their support for a diplomatic solution. It made no mention of possible sanctions.
But EU officials said that among steps envisaged in Mr Solana's paper were a travel ban on individuals involved in Iran's nuclear programme, tighter export controls on dual-use technologies, a ban on Iranian students studying sensitive sciences in European universities and, ultimately, a ban on export credit guarantees to companies trading with Iran.
In Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised "good news" in the next week on the nuclear programme - perhaps, a newspaper said, that Iran had enriched uranium to a level used in power plants.
"(Iran) will not step back one iota from the right of the Iranian nation," he told a rally. Mr Solana - who dismissed a media report of increased US planning for a possible air strike on Iran - told reporters his plan, details of which were first reported by Britain's Financial Times, was not for immediate sanctions.
"What we are doing today is a reflection on what may happen if at the end of the day what is going (on) now in the Security Council does fail," Mr Solana said. "We have plenty of time, but we have to be prepared just in case they fail."
Asked if a visa ban on Iranian officials was among the possibilities, he replied: "There are many things, (a) visa ban is a classical type of measure."
Britain's Mr Straw told reporters: "We're looking at the issue, but entirely on a contingency basis."
Agencies