Delay In EU Assessment Of Sanctions On Iran

Member states of the European Union have agreed to a request from Greece to put off assessing the impact of their oil embargo on Iran, European diplomats say.

AFP cites diplomats who say that the assessment, originally planned for May 1, has been delayed for a month.

Greece, Spain and Italy, which are already facing economic crises, depend on Iran for a large part of their crude needs. From the beginning, they’ve been reluctant to impose sanctions on Iranian oil exports.

The European Union, however, did follow suit on U.S. sanctions against Iran with boycotts of Iranian financial institutions and the oil industry, even as many EU member states and European petroleum companies called for a six-month period to prepare for the sanctions.

The EU has announced that it will cut off all purchases of Iranian oil starting July 1.

The assessment would determine the oil boycott’s impact on the European economy and the world economy. The one-month delay of that report does not necessarily mean that the sanctions will take effect any later that has already been announced.

Meanwhile, nuclear talks between Iran and the G5+1 were described as positive and constructive by both parties last week.

Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi have suggested that the easing of sanctions on Iran would speed up the negotiations by building Iran’s confidence in the good faith of the world powers.

The U.S. has said, however, that Iran must take the first step toward building confidence before any sanctions can be removed.