January 3, 2012 – New York – AJC welcomed French Foreign Minister Alan Juppé’s call for stronger EU sanctions against Iran, following President Obama’s New Year’s Eve signing of a bill that bars U.S. dealings with Iran’s Central Bank.

“We wish for our European partners to follow that path in order to show our common determination," Juppé said today. He urged the EU to freeze all business with Iran’s Central Bank and to cease oil imports from Iran by the end of January.

Praising France’s leadership in mobilizing European action, AJC Executive Director David Harris said that “implementing the tightest possible sanctions on Iran’s banking and energy sectors are essential ingredients to weakening Iran’s resolve to pursue its nuclear weapons program, and raising the costs of its defiance.”

EU ministers, meeting in Brussels on December 1, adopted additional sanctions, but postponed any action regarding Iran’s Central Bank and oil imports. Great Britain froze its dealings with Iran’s Central Bank on November 21.

While Paris has supported London’s move, President Sarkozy has been seeking joint EU action in order to strengthen the impact of sanctioning the Central Bank.

“We applaud France’s consistent leadership on the Iran nuclear issue, and agree with Foreign Minister Juppé that the EU should join with Great Britain and the U.S. in further isolating Iran by ending all transactions with the Iranian Central Bank,” said Harris. “The fact that Iranian officials in recent days have acknowledged that sanctions are making an impact should only encourage European unity in confronting Iran with the strongest possible diplomatic and economic pressure.”

The new U.S. sanctions, welcomed by AJC on Saturday, include rules barring transactions with the Central Bank of Iran and with foreign entities engaging in such transactions.

AJC, a leading global advocacy organization, has been for more than a decade a consistent voice in alerting the world to the profound danger of Iran's quest for nuclear-weapons capability and the means to deliver them.

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