The sanctions will target dual-use items that could be used as part of a nuclear program, and Iran's oil and gas industry, and includes the prohibition of new investment, technical assistance and transfers of technologies.
 

Iran's shipping and air cargo companies will be blacklisted and banned from operating in EU territory, and new visa bans and asset freezes will be imposed on Iran's Revolutionary Guard. The sanctions also encompass trade insurance and financial transactions.
 

In Teheran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast denounced the EU decision.

"Moving toward confrontational measures and supporting unilateral actions and damaging the atmosphere are not considered by us to be a good use of the opportunity," Mehmanparast said, according to the state television network's website.
 

"We have a comprehensive set of sanctions. This is something where we have all 27 countries working together," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said ahead of the meeting.
 

The new measures will come into force in the next few weeks, after they are published  in the bloc's official gazette, officials said.
 

The new European restrictions will come on top of a fourth round of sanctions imposed last month by the UN Security Council to curtail Iran's nuclear program over fears it is developing weapons. The council endorsed those sanctions after Iran rebuffed a plan to suspend uranium enrichment and swap its stockpiles of low-enriched uranium for fuel rods.
 

The new restrictions are similar to measures adopted by the Obama administration, which has imposed penalties against additional individuals and institutions it says are helping Iran develop its nuclear and missile programs, and evade international sanctions.
 

Iran denies that it is working on a nuclear weapon, saying its program is intended solely for peaceful purposes such as energy-generation, and that it has the right to enrich uranium under the international nonproliferation treaty.
 

"Our aim is to bring Iran back to the negotiating table," said German State Secretary Werner Hoyer. "We're offering our hand, and all they have to do is to take it."


(AP contributed to this report)