BRUSSELS - European Union foreign ministers spoke out in favor of tougher sanctions against Iran on Monday, but decided to wait until their next meeting on Dec 1 before taking further action.

The ministers, meeting in Brussels, also ruled out any military action for now, despite last week's conclusion by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Teheran had worked on designing a nuclear bomb.

"The Council will continue to examine possible new and reinforced measures and revert to this issue at its next meeting, taking into account Iran's action," the ministers said in a statement. The United States and Israel have refused to rule out any way of stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear arsenal. But the EU ministers limited themselves to condemning Iran's expanding uranium enrichment program and expressing concern over the IAEA findings that Iran was developing military nuclear technology.

Arriving for the meeting, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain was not yet considering military action.

"We are not calling for, or advocating, military action," he said. "At the same time, we are saying that all options are on the table." He called for "peaceful, legitimate pressure" to be stepped up on Iran.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said: "Sanctions are unavoidable and harsh sanctions are unavoidable too if Iran continues refusing to work with the IAEA".

"Iran has the right to use civil nuclear power but also has the duty to refuse all means of nuclear weaponry and to make this clear before the international community," he said.

He said Germany would not consider military intervention. "We won't be part of a discussion about a military intervention ... such a discussion is counter-productive."

Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal, asked about possible military intervention, said: "I don't exclude anything, now is not the moment to say anything else."

Diplomats in Brussels say EU foreign ministers may be ready to formally approve new sanctions on Dec 1.

No specific measures have been discussed publicly so far, but one western diplomatic source said EU sanctions could focus on adding companies to a list of entities targeted by EU asset freezes in order to curb financial flows to Iran's elite military force.

Reuters

(China Daily 11/16/2011 page12)