(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

BY STEVEN SPARKMAN

ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY

The European Union agreed Monday to impose tough new sanctions on Iran. The measures are meant to push Iran to halt its controversial nuclear program. Euronews reports.

“The measures, including an oil embargo, follow similar moves by the U.S. as the West takes a tougher line over what it believes is Tehran’s push to develop atomic weapons.”

The latest sanctions ban new oil contracts with Iran, and existing contracts will run out at the end of June. The measures also ban the trade of diamonds, gold and other precious metals with Iran to further put a squeeze on the country’s economy. The Guardian explains how these drastic measures will raise the stakes.

“Unlike previous sanctions on Iran, the oil embargo would hit almost all citizens and represent a threat to the regime. Tehran has long said such actions would represent a declaration of war ... tensions are almost certain to build again as the effective date of the oil sanctions approaches.”

The embargo is expected to hurt some EU member countries, including Greece, which gets about a third of its oil from Iran. But the effects in Iran are expected to be much more severe. An analyst tells the BBC what the current sanctions have already done.

“Unemployment is rising. Inflation, we know, has shot up over the last few months. … Factories are closing. It’s a very serious issue. It’s putting enormous pressure.”

But so far, that pressure has not been enough. Iranian news agencies today ran defiant headlines following the EU decision, like:

“Demand growing for Iranian crude,” “Oil sanctions against Iran to harm West,” and “Iran to make whole world insecure for US if attacked” from the country’s semi-official Fars News Agency, or “Iran’s economy to grow in 2012” and “Iran can shut Hormuz if threatened” from state-run PressTV.

That last threat, that Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz, has become familiar in the last few weeks. It was first issued in response to financial sanctions. An analyst on Sky News says the rhetoric has gotten even tougher after the EU’s decision.

“Iran has come out and said that it will definitely close the Strait of Hormuz if crude exports are disrupted. Well, there is no doubt that crude exports will be disrupted by this oil embargo.”

Iran has also warned the U.S. not to send any more ships into the region. But for now that warning went unheeded as a flotilla of warships from the U.S., Britain and France cruised through the Strait. CNN reports.

“It’s been smooth sailing so far for the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Persian Gulf. … The U.S. Navy says the aircraft carrier completed a regular and routine passage through the Strait of Hormuz.”

The Telegraph reports the aircraft aboard the Lincoln have more striking power than the entire Iranian air force.