The new sanctions also include a ban on the supply of vessels for the transportation or storage of Iranian oil and a ban on flagging Iranian vessels.

The initial EU oil sanctions which came into force in July include a ban on the provision of insurance for ships carrying Iranian oil and have led to Iran supplying crude to some Asian countries on its own tankers and using its own insurance.

But there have been reports of Iran storing oil on non-Iranian tankers off Malaysia and Singapore, and the new sanctions would ban any involvement by EU entities in tankers owned by Iran or carrying Iranian oil.

European shipping sources shrugged off the sanctions, saying the ban would have no discernible impact on the spot tanker market because the majority of Western shipping companies no longer have business dealings with Iran.

The new EU ban on gas imports, meanwhile, also extends to the purchase and transport of Iranian gas and to finance and insurance. The move is largely symbolic as the EU does not import gas from Iran.

Iran does, however, export some gas to Turkey which is not an EU member but has aspirations to join, and can re-export some of its gas imports, which also come from Russia and Azerbaijan, to southeast Europe.

A Turkish energy ministry spokesman said the ban would have no direct effect on Turkey as the 1996 agreement between Turkish state gas importer Botas and Iran, under which Botas imports 10 billion cubic meters a year of Iranian gas, does not give Botas the right to re-export.

But the US Energy Information Administration, in a report required by congress, said last week that a disruption in Iranian gas exports would have a big impact on Turkey, which could see gas shortages in winter.

The new EU sanctions will not apply to the Shah Deniz gas project offshore Azerbaijan in the Caspian Sea despite blacklisted Naftiran Intertrade Company, or NICO, having a 10% stake in the consortium which operates the field operating consortium. An EU source said simply that Shakh Deniz was exempt "because of its importance to Europe."

Iran, meanwhile, has condemned the EU sanctions as "illegal, inhumane and unreasonable," reiterating that its nuclear work is for civilian purposes.

Foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in a televised press conference on October 16 that Iran would not allow "big powers" to interfere with its domestic issues and urged the six world powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- to return to talks with Iran on its nuclear program "with a logical view instead of a wrong approach and insistence on stubbornness and pressure that will strengthen our nation even more."

The EU said it held out hopes of returning to talks with Iran over its disputed nuclear drive.

Fears have grown in recent months of a possible Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities and British Prime Minister David Cameron this week added his voice to those of other senior western officials who have urged Israel to give sanctions a chance to work.

Cameron, who said he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that now was "not the time for Israel to resort to military action," said the sanctions had already slowed down Iran's nuclear program by reducing Tehran's oil revenues and that needed to be given time to work.

The United States and Israel have welcomed the new sanctions but China has leveled criticism, saying sanctions can only complicate the issue and escalate tensions.

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