PARIS/BERLIN - France and Germany signalled on Friday the European Union could punish Iran for pressing ahead with its nuclear programme before the world's top powers agree on further sanctions at the United Nations.
France urged other EU states this week to start exploring further sanctions against Iran now, at the same time as the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany negotiate a third round of U.N. measures against Tehran.
Some European countries, such as Italy, have signalled their reluctance to back EU measures outside the U.N. framework.
Germany appeared to give cautious backing to that strategy with comments suggested a hardening of Berlin's position. Until now, it has insisted the debate in the Security Council run its course before action outside it is considered.
"In the event a Security Council decision cannot be reached and Iran is not showing a readiness to cooperate, the EU needs to think in a timely way about how to react," a German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told a news conference.
Major powers have agreed not to pass the U.N. sanctions until November, to see whether an agreement between Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog aimed at clearing up questions about Tehran's atomic programme yields results, and to await a report by EU negotiator Javier Solana on talks with Iran.
A spokesman for French President Nicolas Sarkozy said European countries could take their own steps to slow trade with Iran before EU sanctions were agreed.
"Discussions (in the EU) are not that easy to try to reach a toughening of the sanctions regime," Sarkozy's spokesman David Martinon told a weekly news conference.
Talks at the UN and within the EU should continue, he said.
