UN- Iran has warned European Union states of "dire consequences" because of their decision to impose tighter sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program. "Undoubtedly, such a confrontational approach may leave dire consequences in the relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the European Union," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in a letter to EU foreign ministers obtained by Reuters on Wednesday. The EU's decision "will definitely cause far greater losses for the European Union itself rather than for the Islamic Republic of Iran as this is amply demonstrated in all previous statistics," said the letter, which was received on Tuesday. Mottaki's letter also said the 27-nation bloc "will practically deny itself of the potentially strategic cooperation of a powerful and influential partner in the sensitive region of the Middle East and Persian Gulf." EU leaders last week agreed tighter sanctions against Iran, including measures to block oil and gas investment and curtail its refining and natural gas capability. The measures, which go substantially beyond those approved by the United Nations Security Council on June 9, are designed to pressure Tehran to return to talks on its uranium enrichment program which Western powers believe is designed to produce nuclear weapons and Iran says is peaceful. "Let us hope that the European Union will not succumb to US pressures to march on a wrong path that will only produce everlasting shame before the free-minded nations of the world," Mottaki said.
