Israel to 'finally' impose sanctions on Iran

AFP, After years of calling for tough action against arch-foe Iran, Israel is finally getting around to joining international sanctions against Tehran, officials said on Thursday.

The foreign ministry is preparing legislation that would see Israel adopt laws targeting companies that violate international sanctions, ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP.

"It turns out there is a lacuna in Israeli legislation concerning Iran," Palmor said.

"There seems to be a gap between policy and legislation, and this would bring the legislation up to date."

Israel has repeatedly called for tougher international steps against its bitter enemy Iran.

Animosity between the countries has grown under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly spoken of the Jewish state's demise.

The United Nations imposed a fourth found of sanctions against Iran in June 2010, after Iran refused to halt uranium enrichment work, the most sensitive part of its nuclear programme.

Israel, the United States and others suspect the programme is aimed at producing weapons.

Tehran denies the allegations, insisting it is only seeking to meet the energy needs of its population.

In part, Israel has been slow in adopting the sanctions because no Israeli companies trade with Iran.

Israeli media however said the legislation would target companies that deal with both Iran and Israel.

The initiative was proposed by hardline Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the Maariv daily reported.

A team of Israeli experts looked into the issue and discovered "the state of Israel lacks adequate legal tools to promote extensive economic sanctions on Iran and cannot even comply at times with the commitments that stem from the UN Security Council resolutions," Maariv said, quoting from the expert report.

Palmor declined to give details of the proposed legislation, only saying it would "put us in line with international efforts like those adopted by the US, the EU and the international resolutions."