The fallout from Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program continues, with the European Union (EU) imposing new economic sanctions against 180 Iranian officials and companies.

The council agreed to broaden existing sanctions by examining, in close coordination with international partners, additional measures including measures aimed at severely affecting the Iranian financial system, in the transport sector, in the energy sector, the EU said in a statement.

The European body is hoping that by damaging Iran economically, as well as by freezing government and individual assets and issuing travel bans, it will convince the country to end its nuclear program.

However, in a possibly counterproductive measure, the EU could not agree on sanctions on Iran's oil industry, which accounts for 80 percent of Iran's total exports. Some European countries, such as Greece, are dependent on Iranian petroleum.

The EU is still discussing possible oil industry sanctions on Iran, which could be instituted by the end of the year.

The United States, Canada and the United Kingdom have already imposed sanctions on Iran.

On Tuesday, Iranians stormed the British embassy in Tehran over new sanctions imposed by Prime Minister David Cameron. In response, Cameron shut the embassy in Iran and sent some diplomats home, He also ordered the closing of Iran's embassy in London and sent Iranian diplomats packing.

The wave of action against Iran is the fallback from an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report that determined Iran was working on the development of a nuclear device. Iran has repeatedly denied the assertions, stating both that their nuclear program is only for energy and that the report was fabricated to give the U.S. and Israel an excuse to attack it.

European union Nuclear weapons Israel United kingdom