What about the European Union?

A "financial war" against Tehran would be the most humae way of avoiding a nuclear one
By Matthias Küntzel
This Monday was a good day for the Iranian people and a bad one for the Iranian regime: on 21 November 2011 the UN General Assembly condemned human rights violations in Iran, the USA reinforced its sanctions on the Iranian oil and petrochemical industries, Canada banned transactions with the Iranian Central Bank, France called for an end to purchases of Iranian oil and the UK suspended all financial cooperation with Iran with immediate effect.
Missing from this list, however, are Germany and the EU.
On 8 November the body empowered by the UN to deal with such matters, the IAEA, brought forward unambiguous evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. On 14 November the EU Foreign Ministers met to discuss their response to the IAEA report and decided … nothing, apart from to postpone a decision until 1 December. This failure and the subsequent unilateral steps and statements by London and Paris show the divisions within and the impotence of EU foreign policy in this area.
In a communiqué of 21 November, France’s President Sarkozy described the actions of the Iranian regime as “a grave and urgent threat to peace“. “In addition to the unacceptable risk of nuclear proliferation, they could spark a military escalation in the region with catastrophic consequences for Iran and for the world.”
A threat of this magnitude calls not for prevarication, but swift and strong action: every day that passes without massive Western pressure increases the likelihood of a military strike against Iran. So what can be done?
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