LONDON - EU foreign ministers piled pressure on Iran over its contested nuclear program on Thursday, slapping sanctions on an extra 180 firms and individuals and threatening to hit out at its vital oil sector.

Expressing "deepening concerns" on the nature of the nuclear program, the 27 European Union foreign ministers urged the bloc to "extend the scope" of current sanctions in order to strike at Teheran's financial heart.

A statement said the ministers agreed to examine measures in particular affecting the financial system in the transport and energy sector.

Outraged by Tuesday's storming of the British embassy in Teheran, the ministers also said they considered "these actions against the UK as actions against the European Union as a whole".

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on joining the talks that he would urge his counterparts to squeeze Iran for both its nuclear activities and mounting human rights violations.

"I hope we will agree today additional measures that will be an intensification of the economic pressure on Iran, peaceful legitimate economic pressure particularly to increase the isolation of the Iranian financial sector," he said.

Though German counterpart Guido Westerwelle too favored moves "to dry up Iran's financial sources", the crisis-hit EU is deeply split over slapping an oil embargo on Iran as well as over calls by some, including Britain, to agree on an assets freeze on Iran's central bank.

The new sanctions follow the publication last month of a new report on Iran's contested nuclear activity by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Reuters