Iran warns EU after 'illegal' sanctions

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran on Tuesday condemned the European Union's adoption of new sanctions over its controversial nuclear drive, warning that the measures could damage fresh diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis.

The Foreign Ministry accused the bloc of "double standards" in imposing the sanctions just over a week after world powers presented Iran with a new package of proposals aimed at ending the standoff.

"This illegal and contradictory approach of double standards - at a time when packages are being studied - is meaningless and is strongly denounced," spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in a statement.

Such measures "will waste European opportunities and will not create a suitable atmosphere for solving the matter through diplomacy," he warned.

The measures, approved on Monday during a meeting of EU agriculture and fisheries ministers in Luxembourg, will stop the operations of Bank Melli, Iran's largest, at its European offices in London, Hamburg and Paris.

The EU move, running alongside a string of UN sanctions against Iran adopted since 2006, aims at persuading Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, which the West fears could be used to make a nuclear weapon.

But Hosseini warned that "this kind of behaviour will make the Iranian nation and government more determined in obtaining their rights."

Using a policy of "carrot and stick" against Iran would have no effect, he added.

Including Bank Melli, 20 Iranian companies and 15 individuals have been added to its existing sanctions list, according to information published in the European Union's official journal on Tuesday.

Bank Melli's commercial branch was described as "providing or attempting to provide financial support for companies which are involved in or procure goods for Iran's nuclear and missile programmes."

Among the individuals on the list figure Reza Aghazadeh, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, and Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards.

They will be banned from entering the European Union and have their funds in Europe frozen.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana visited Tehran on June 14 to present a cooperation offer to Iran on behalf of the six major countries involved in the dossier Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

The package offers Iran technological incentives in exchange for its suspension of the sensitive process of uranium enrichment.

For its part, Iran has presented its own package which is a more all-embracing effort to solve the "world's problems", including the nuclear standoff.

Tehran insists it wants nuclear energy only for a growing population whose fossil fuels will eventually run out and vehemently rejected calls to suspend enrichment for any length of time.