欧盟会议将商讨制裁伊朗新措施

Discussion of new measures against Iran is expected to dominate a meeting of European foreign ministers on Thursday.

讨论对于伊朗实行新的制裁措施将要主导欧盟各国外长周四举行的会议。

Ministers will consider responses to a report by the UN nuclear watchdog that said Iran had carried out tests related to "development of a nuclear device".

Iran denies this, saying its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

Britain may press for further sanctions against Iran's energy sector¹, reports say, after the storming of British diplomatic compounds in Tehran.

On Wednesday, the UK announced that it was expelling（驱逐） all Iranian diplomats² and closing the Iranian embassy in London after the attacks of the previous day.

The British Foreign Secretary William Hague also announced that all UK diplomatic staff in Tehran had been evacuated³ and the embassy closed.

BBC Iran correspondent James Reynolds, in Brussels where the talks are taking place, says the meeting is a first chance to see if other countries in Europe will follow Britain in taking their own measures against Iran.

Already France, Germany and the Netherlands have recalled their respective ambassadors from Tehran for consultations⁴.

Iran will be watching closely, our correspondent says.

Its foreign ministry⁵ has criticised the decision to close the embassies in London and Tehran as a hasty knee-jerk reaction, but some hardliners have welcomed the move.

One Islamic students' society says it will hold thanksgiving services to celebrate the embassies' closure.