Downing Street Says

Asked to clear up the confusion over Iran sanctions, as Javier Solana’s spokeswoman said these had not been discussed earlier in Brussels, the PMS replied that the information that he had from the Foreign Office before he left was that there was agreement among EU member states to freeze the assets of Bank Melli, that Javier Solana briefed EU Ministers today on his talks in Tehran, and they discussed the next steps including further sanctions.

Put that Solana’s spokeswoman had said it had not been discussed at all, the PMS replied the information that he had from the Foreign Office was that it had been discussed.

Put that the Prime Minister spoke before those discussions began, the PMS replied that the meeting took place during the course of the day – the Prime Minister spoke at 11:00.

Put that the Prime Minister was under the understanding that this was going to be discussed and agreed at that meeting, the PMS replied that it was discussed and had been agreed.

Put that this was not the case according to the European Union, the PMS replied that the information he had was from the Foreign Office, and clearly someone in Brussels need to give journalists further clarity.

Asked if these were additional sanctions on Bank Melli, the PMS replied that this was correct. This was something that had been under discussion for some time, it was on the agenda of the Foreign Ministers meeting today, and was discussed and agreed.

Asked if this action was part of a wider package of EU sanctions to be agreed in the coming days, or was this a standalone announcement, the PMS replied that people should check with the Foreign Office.

Asked if this would come up on Thursday and Friday, the PMS replied that it was best to wait and see, he was sure that there would be lots of other things to discuss at the European Council on Thursday and Friday.

Asked why the Prime Minister thought it was a good idea to impose extra sanctions on Iran in the name of negotiation offering a new deal to the Iranian regime, the PMS replied that it was because we needed to make clear that in our view so far the cooperation from the Iranians has not been satisfactory.

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» Monday, June 16, 2008

Iran

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