EU foreign ministers have set the clock ticking on an Iran oil embargo in six months' time despite fresh threats of naval retaliation.
Ministers in Brussels on Monday (23 January) agreed the Union will from 1 July no longer buy Iranian crude oil - worth about 20 percent of its exports - in order to stop an alleged nuclear weapons programme. It also blacklisted the Iranian central bank and banned trade in gold and diamonds.
The time-lag is designed to help Greece, Italy and Spain...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.