EU to pursue "duel strategy" on Iran, says Solana

GENEVA, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The European Union will continue to pursue a "duel strategy" of negotiations and sanctions on Iran's nuclear activity, the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said here on Wednesday.

"With Iran, we have a dual strategy: on the one hand negotiations and at the same time action through the United Nations," Solana told reporters after addressing a disarmament conference in Geneva.

Solana said UN sanctions and diplomacy would run in parallel on the Iranian nuclear issue, but he preferred a diplomatic solution to the problem.

"We want to have a solution which is diplomatically negotiated," he said.

The 27-member EU on Monday decided at a meeting in Luxembourg to freeze the assets of Iran's largest bank, Bank Melli, and impose a travel ban on high-level experts dealing with Iran's nuclear program.