European Union foreign ministers were set Friday to approve more sanctions against Syria, Belarus and Iran, and expand an anti-piracy mission in Somalia, dpa reported.
Meeting as the bloody crackdown ordained by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against a year-long insurgency was continuing unabated, ministers were expected to add 12 officials and 2 companies to an EU visa ban and asset freeze list, EU diplomats said.
"Today you will see significant tightening of the sanctions. We have 12 names on the table," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told journalists before the meeting.
Al-Assad's British-born wife Asma was reportedly on the list, but British Foreign Secretary William Hague refused to confirm the information.
Fresh EU sanctions would send a "very powerful signal to everyone inside the regime that the killing has to stop" and be replaced by a "political process," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said.
"That is the only way (to) prevent the country from descending into a civil war which would have devastating consequences," he warned.
Similar sanctions were planned against 29 Belarus companies and 12 businessmen backing President Aleksandr Lukashenko, whose regime drew fresh international criticism over the weekend for the execution of two men accused of bombing Minsk's metro last year, sources added.
Ministers were also expected to discuss whether EU ambassadors - withdrawn from Minsk last month in a diplomatic tit-for-tat - should return to the country.
On Iran, EU governments were finalizing regulations putting into practice an earlier decision to apply an oil embargo against the country, effective from July 1, in response to the country's defiance over its nuclear programme.
The regulation - which ministers were expected to approve on Friday - should offer some exemptions to the insurance sector, in a concession to Asian insurers of Iranian oil tankers.
In recent weeks, they had complained that an EU ban on providing finance and insurance to the Iranian oil sector had repercussions for them, because they are reinsured through the London-based International Group of P&I Clubs.
On Friday, ministers were also expected to tighten a parallel set of EU sanctions on Iran linked to the country's human rights violations, several diplomats said.
Eighteen more officials will be added to an existing travel ban and asset freeze list, currently covering 61 persons, while a ban will be introduced on exports of electronic material that may be used to intercept telephone and internet communications.
On Somalia, ministers were set to approve the idea of expanding the anti-piracy mission Atalanta in the Gulf of Aden, to include air attacks via helicopter against pirates based on the Somali coast. The move was discussed Thursday by EU defence ministers.