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Prevention of Nuclear Proliferation

Given the UK's importance as a financial centre and its interconnectedness, there was an opportunity to act to close down opportunities for banks in Iran to use our facilities. The other point is that on the day that we announced our measures, President Sarkozy wrote to us supporting our financial sanctions and also proposing sanctions on oil. There will be a further debate in the European Union about that next month at the Foreign Affairs Council, where we will push this issue further. We are working in concert, not just with our European allies, but with the US and Canada, as I have said. Indeed, the EU already has strong financial sanctions in place against Iran, and introduced asset-freezing measures and travel bans against 180 Iranian individuals and entities at the beginning of this month. The EU is considering taking further measures to implement that, and we will be pushing our partners to take strong measures too.