Europe will pay cost of sanctions, claims Iran

Published on Wednesday 30 June 2010 15:36

IRAN has told European Union states its decision to impose tighter sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear programme may have serious repercussions for the bloc's ties with the Islamic Republic.

"Undoubtedly, such a confrontational approach may leave dire consequences in the relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the European Union," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in a letter to EU foreign ministers.

The EU's decision "will definitely cause far greater losses for the European Union itself rather than for the Islamic Republic of Iran as this is amply demonstrated in all previous statistics," the letter said.

Mottaki's letter also said the 27-nation bloc "will practically deny itself of the potentially strategic co-operation of a powerful and influential partner in the sensitive region of the Middle East and Persian Gulf."

EU leaders last week agreed tighter sanctions against Iran, including measures to block oil and gas investment and curtail its refining and natural gas capability.