FACTBOX-U.S., EU and U.N. sanctions on Iran

July 14 (Reuters) - A new round of U.S. and European
sanctions targets Iran's dilapidated oil sector from top to
bottom, msking it more difficult to maintain output capacity and
domestic supplies of fuel. [ID:nLDE66A06J]

Following are some details of the sanctions imposed on Iran
by the United Nations, the United States and the European Union:

* U.S. SANCTIONS:

-- Sanctions imposed after Iranian students stormed the U.S.
embassy and took diplomats hostage in 1979 included a ban on
most U.S.-Iran trade.

-- Goods or services from Iran cannot be imported into the
United States, either directly or through third countries, with
the following exceptions: gifts valued at $100 or less;
information or informational materials; foodstuffs intended for
human consumption; certain carpets and other textile floor
coverings and carpets used as wall hangings.

-- In 1995, President Bill Clinton issued executive orders
preventing U.S. companies from investing in Iranian oil and gas
and trading with Iran. Tehran has looked for other customers.

-- The same year, Congress passed a law requiring the U.S.
government to impose sanctions on foreign firms investing more
than $20 million a year in Iran's energy sector. It was extended
for five years in September 2006. No foreign firms have yet been
penalised, though many have severely curtailed their operations
in Iran.

-- In October 2007 Washington imposed sanctions on Bank
Melli, Bank Mellat and Bank Saderat and branded the
Revolutionary Guards a proliferator of weapons of mass
destruction. In October 2009, the Treasury also sanctioned Bank
Mellat in Malaysia and its chairman.

-- The Treasury this month added Post Bank of Iran to its
list of specially designated proliferators of weapons of mass
destruction. It is the 16th bank in Iran that Washington has
sought to cut off from the international financial system.

-- The Treasury has identified some 20 petroleum and
petrochemical companies as being under Iranian government
control -- an action that puts them off limits to U.S.
businesses under a general trade embargo.

-- Congress approved on June 24 tough new unilateral
sanctions aimed at squeezing Iran's energy and banking sectors,
which could also hurt companies from other countries doing
business with Tehran.

-- The legislation will sanction companies for supplying
Iran with refined petroleum products with a fair market value
exceeding $1 million or that during a 12-month period have an
aggregate fair market value of $5 million or more. Companies
that fail to abide by the sanctions will face tough penalties,
such as being banned from the U.S. financial system or being
denied US contracts.

-- The legislation also imposes sanctions on international
banking institutions involved with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps, its nuclear programme or what Washington calls its
support for terrorist activity. It effectively deprives foreign
banks of access to the U.S. financial system if they do business
with key Iranian banks or the Revolutionary Guards.
-- U.S. sanctions against Iran can be found on the Treasury
Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control website:
here and here

* U.N. SANCTIONS:

-- The Security Council has imposed four sets of sanctions
on Iran, in December 2006, March 2007, March 2008 and June 2010.

-- The first covered sensitive nuclear materials and froze
the assets of Iranian individuals and companies linked with the
nuclear programme. It gave Iran 60 days to suspend uranium
enrichment, a deadline Iran ignored.

-- The second included new arms and financial sanctions. It
extended an asset freeze to 28 more groups, companies and
individuals engaged in or supporting sensitive nuclear work or
development of ballistic missiles, including the state-run Bank
Sepah and firms controlled by the Revolutionary Guards.

-- The resolution invoked Chapter 7, Article 41 of the U.N.
Charter, making most of its provisions mandatory but excluding
military action. Iran again ignored an order to halt enrichment.

-- The third measure increased travel and financial curbs on
individuals and companies and made some of them mandatory. It
expanded a partial ban on trade in items with both civilian and
military uses to cover sales of all such technology to Iran, and
added 13 individuals and 12 companies to the list of those
suspected of aiding Iran's nuclear and missile programmes. In
September 2008, the Security Council unanimously adopted a
resolution again ordering Iran to halt enrichment. Iran again
disregarded the order.

-- The Security Council resolution passed on June 9 called
for measures against new Iranian banks abroad if a connection to
the nuclear or missile programmes is suspected, as well as
vigilance over transactions with any Iranian bank, including the
central bank.

-- It also expanded a U.N. arms embargo against Tehran and
blacklisted three firms controlled by Islamic Republic of Iran
Shipping Lines and 15 belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps. The resolution also called for setting up a cargo
inspection regime similar to one in place for North Korea.

-- Annexed to the draft resolution was a list of 40
companies to be added to an existing U.N. blacklist of firms.

* EU SANCTIONS

-- The EU has imposed visa bans on senior officials such as
Revolutionary Guards chief Mohammad Ali Jafari, former Defence
Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar and former atomic energy chief
Gholamreza Aghazadeh, and on top nuclear and ballistic experts.

-- Britain announced last October it was freezing business
ties with Bank Mellat and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping
Lines, both of which have previously faced sanctions from the
United States. Britain cited fears they were involved in helping
Iran develop nuclear weapons.

-- New sanctions, which EU leaders agreed in June, will
focus on trade, Iran's transport sector, and key sectors of the
gas and oil industry.

-- Energy sector sanctions would prohibit "new investment,
technical assistance and transfers of technologies, equipment
and services related to these areas, in particular related to
refining, liquefaction and liquefied natural gas technology".

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit;
Editing by Samia Nakhoul and Peter Graff)

(david.cutler@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 7542 7968; Reuters
Messaging: david.cutler.reuters.com@reuters.net))