Though they are unlikely to be fully implemented before the middle of the year, the prospect of fierce new sanctions on Iran has already ratcheted up tension between the Islamic republic and the West. On January 23rd the European Union is expected to confirm that it will embargo oil imports from Iran (see our chart), a fifth of Iran's overall sales. The eu's move follows the signing into law by Barack Obama on December 31st of measures, passed almost unanimously by Congress, to stop foreign financial institutions from transacting with Iran's central bank, the main conduit for the country's energy deals. The eu, with France and Britain in the lead, is also looking at other ways of hurting the central bank.
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