In the last few hours, the EU voted to increase sanctions on Iran aimed at convincing the regime to increase transparency on – and then halt – what is widely believed to be an illicit nuclear weapons program. Diplomats speaking in the lead-up to the EU vote identified the sanctions as the toughest yet adopted, and particularly pointed to new threshholds on transactions with Iranian banks as a way to limit all non-humanitarian trade. The sanctions also ban European ships from transporting Iranian oil and EU countries from importing Iranian gas from Iran, and place export restrictions on several metals that can be diverted to Iran’s nuclear program. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton insisted today that time still remains for a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear weapons drive, but she and her Iranian counterpart Saeed Jalili have yet to set a date for their next meeting. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently characterized the latest round of Iranian proposals as non-starters.

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