EU mulls tougher sanctions against Iran, Syria, Belarus

CNN Wire Service

The European Union is set Monday to review sanctions against Iran and Syria for their brutal crackdowns on opposition movements, possibly increasing measures against governments or officials.

It renewed and expanded sanctions on Belarus, it announced as the EU’s 27 foreign ministers began their gathering in Luxembourg.

Nearly 200 people were already subject to an asset freeze and travel ban over the “crackdown on civil society and democratic opposition” after the last two presidential elections.

The EU added three companies and 16 individuals to the list of those facing restrictions, and it extended the existing restrictions until the end of October 2012, it announced. It is expected to name them on Tuesday.

The EU is also looking at measures against Syria and Iran.

The review follows last week’s failure by the U.N. Security Council to agree on a resolution calling for an immediate end to a military crackdown against opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

China and Russia opposed the resolution, which was supported by the EU’s Great Britain and France as well as the United States.

The foreign ministers are “expected to deplore the fact that the U.N. Security Council has not yet been able to adopt a resolution on the current developments in Syria,” according to an outline released ahead of the meeting.

Al-Assad has been under international pressure to end a seven-month crackdown on demonstrators calling for the end to his regime.

The European Union has slapped Syria with a number of sanctions, including barring the import of Syrian oil and banning the delivery of Syrian currency produced in the EU to the Syrian Central Bank. It also has placed travel restrictions on and frozen the assets of officials it says are involved in the attacks on the opposition.

“The council is likely to indicate that the EU will actively pursue its current policy,” the outline said.

EU foreign ministers also will take up discussion of Iran’s increased use of the death penalty, “including executions of minors.”

“In view of the deteriorating situation, it is likely to reinforce the EU’s restrictive measures against persons responsible for serious human rights violations,” the outline said.

Iran has been hit by the EU with economic and trade sanctions related to its nuclear program. The ministers also froze the assets of 32 Iranians accused of human rights violations and banned them from entering EU territory.

The ministers extended the visa ban and asset freeze on 192 people in Belarus who the EU maintains are responsible for political repression and “violations of the international electoral standards” in the former Soviet republic’s 2006 and 2010 presidential elections.

The sanctions were imposed against Belarus following the December 2010 presidential election that saw the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko amid allegations of widespread electoral fraud.

The government cracked down on mass protests following the election, including the beating and jailing of former presidential candidate Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu. Other political figures and journalists also were jailed.

Among other issues, according to the outline, to be discussed during the meeting:

The ministers will appeal for direct talks to resume between Palestinians and Israelis within a month, under terms outlined by the Middle East Quartet — the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.

The Council will express its support to Libya’s interim government, while discussing the proliferation of conventional weapons in the war to oust Moammar Gadhafi.

The ministers also will review recent developments in Yemen, while calling for a peaceful transition of power under a peace plan hammered out by a regional bloc of Gulf Arab nations.

CNN’s Chelsea J. Carter contributed to this report.