Tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme are raising fears of a confrontation over oil supplies.European Union foreign ministers are expected to announce a phased ban on the purchase of oil from Iran at a meeting on Monday in Brussels.
It would be the latest EU measure to be introduced to punish Iran over its nuclear programme.
The EU currently buys around 20% of Iran’s oil exports.
Tehran denies that it is trying to develop nuclear weapons and says talks and not sanctions are the only way to resolve the dispute.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon said the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, as well as a British Royal Navy frigate and a French warship, have passed through the Straits of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf without incident in the wake of Iranian threats to block the trade route.