US urges Eruope to tighten Iran sanctions

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The United States is expressing frustration that European governments have not placed more stringent economic sanctions on Iran in an effort to get that nation to scale back or abandon its program for enriching nuclear fuel. US ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency Gregory Schulte said Wednesday night that Europe should be doing more in the effort to stem Irans nuclear ambitions.Ambassador Schulte complained that European governments are not doing more to discourage investment in and financial transactions with Iran in the wake of Decembers resolution in the United Nations that imposed sanctions on Iran. He said that Europe should use all available non-military measures to pressure Iran, directly and indirectly, to abandon its nuclear programs.Among the sanctions approved by the UN is a ban on financing 10 specific companies that have been linked to the development of nuclear programs and missiles. One bank has specifically been prohibited from dealing in dollars. The US has expanded its sanctions on Iran since passage of the UN resolution, but pressure it has put on the European Union to do the same has encountered resistance. The EU has said that it does not have mechanisms in place for enforcing such sanctions. It also says that it is concerned that new sanctions would be overturned in the courts.While officials in Europe have been slow to back sanctions, a number of private banks in Europe have said they would cut their dealings with Iran.