Iran had "failed to restore international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear programme", British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a joint statement.
The UN say they have evidence that Iran is designing a nuclear weapon. If they have the proof, show it to the world, we need to know for certain this isn’t just an excuse to go to war with Iran, we've been down that road before.
As American and European aircraft and warships move into the Strait of Hormuz, Iran now has its back to the wall as 27 EU countries voted to immediately ban all new contracts to import, purchase or transport Iranian crude oil. They will also freeze the assets of the Iranian central bank to add further pressure. EU chief Catherine Ashton says the sanctions have been put in place to get Iran to back to the negotiating table.
But Iran is not without friends. Russia and China have said the new sanctions are unnecessary and they will continue to buy their oil, no matter how hard the West tries to dissuade them.
Iran could easily close the Strait, the narrow channel between the Gulf and the open sea, but Washington has said it will not tolerate any closure.
So we have a stand-off and I'm wondering who really calls the shots in Iran, the Supreme Leader, the President or the Revolutionary Guards.
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