LONDON -- The European Union on Monday increased economic and diplomatic pressure on Iran by ratcheting up sanctions put in place against the country’s nuclear program.

“Despite six U.N. Security Council Resolutions calling for Iran to cease enrichment-related activities, Iran continues to choose the wrong path. It is enriching uranium on a scale that has no plausible civilian justification,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague said at a meeting of foreign ministers from the 27 EU countries in Luxembourg.

At the same meeting, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton stressed the path to a negotiated diplomatic solution remains open.

“We have always said sanctions are not an end in themselves, but are there to apply pressure on the Iranian authorities to meet their international obligations,” Ashton said.

Tough measures
In addition to current bans on oil and gasoline imports from Iran, Monday’s package of measures addressed what the EU called its “serious and deepening concerns over Iran’s nuclear program,” by targeting Tehran’s funding of such schemes.

All transactions between European and Iranian banks will now be prohibited, unless they have been explicitly authorized by national authorities.

The import of natural gas from Iran into the EU will be banned, along with associated activities, such as transport and insurance.

EU member states also decided to stop supporting trade with Iran by ending short-term export credits, guarantees or insurance.

These new restrictions come amid growing concern among world powers of Iran’s lack of engagement in its protracted negotiations with the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany in their on-and-off talks, which have dragged on for years with little sign of progress.

Iran says ready 'to offer an exchange' on nuke issue

World powers accuse Iran of covertly using its uranium enrichment program to produce nuclear weapons. Tehran insists the research and development is to generate electricity and produce medical isotopes.

The ongoing negotiations have limped from meeting to meeting, with the world powers’ frustrations punctuated by occasional concessions by Iran and assertions of its willingness to engage with the international partners. Recently, Iran suggested it would halt its enrichment program in exchange for fuel for a research reactor.

Despite the protracted dialogue, diplomats hope that a negotiated settlement can be reached, with international sanctions providing an incentive for Tehran to engage more meaningfully.

Western intel: 'Small signs of wavering' on Iran nuke policy

Ashton told reporters in Luxembourg that she met recently with her Iranian counterpart, Saeed jalili, and “had left him in no illusion about our desire to make progress.”

Staggering economy
Although the EU says sanctions are not aimed at the Iranian people, the existing sanctions, backed by numerous U.N. resolutions dating back to 2006, began to bite this summer.

Hyperinflation in Iran is pushing up prices daily and the dramatic slide in the value of the rial against the U.S. dollar led to unrest in Tehran earlier this month, when angry currency traders clashed with security forces.

These new sanctions appear likely to add to Iran’s economic turmoil, according to analysts.

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Despite the tightening sanctions, U.S. exports to Iran rose by nearly one-third in the first eight months of 2012, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The jump, to $199.5 million, was due chiefly to an increase in grain sales and hides a sharp drop in the value of exports of humanitarian goods, such as medicinal and pharmaceutical products, which fell to $14.9 million from $26.7 million in the same period in 2011.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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LONDON -- Western intelligence has begun to detect tension within the Iranian regime over the country’s nuclear program, officials told NBC News on Friday.

Even so, the European Union on Friday provisionally approved substantial new economic sanctions against Tehran.

The new sanctions will have to be formally approved on Monday at an EU foreign ministers' meeting in Luxembourg before coming into effect.

The sanctions, aimed at trying to change policy in Tehran, will target areas such as shipping, banking and trade in parts that could be used to build a nuclear weapon. Measures already in place include an oil embargo that is causing serious economic woes and leading to protests on the streets.

Tehran denies its nuclear work has any military intentions and says it wants nuclear power for electricity supplies and medical needs.

Despite stalled talks between Iran and a six-country alliance of Western powers, including the United States, a Western diplomatic source said contact with Iranian officials has been sustained consistently, including during the months since the summer.

Western official: 'Tension within the Iranian regime'
The official told NBC News there are some signs of “tension within the Iranian regime” over the issue.

"We’ve picked up some small signs of wavering on the nuclear policy," the official, who did not want to be named, said. "But I don’t want to exaggerate it."

He added that so far there is “no sign Iran is prepared to move” making renewed sanctions necessary.

Any change in policy from either side is only likely to emerge after the U.S. presidential election: If Iran is prepared to negotiate, it will want to know whether it is talking to an Obama administration or a Romney administration.

The United States has so far led the way on sanctions against Iran.

Even so, in Thursday’s vice presidential debate, Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, accused the Obama administration of not doing enough. Ryan warned that Iran is “moving faster toward a nuclear weapon.”

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He warned that if Iran is able to attain nuclear weapons it could “trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.”

In this assertion, Ryan appeared closer to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who dramatically told the United Nations in September that Israel was drawing a “red line” for Iran’s nuclear program and claimed the country could be on the brink of a nuclear weapon in less than a year.

With Iran issue simmering, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu calls early elections

EU steps up pressure
On Friday, the Western official said the chief purpose of the sanctions is to “slow down Iran’s nuclear program” and that the aim is not to target the Iranian people.

The trade and finance measures mark a major step-up of European pressure on Tehran, amid growing concerns over its nuclear program, foundering diplomacy and threats of attack on Iranian installations by Israel.

The EU is also targeting Iran's shipping industry, in an effort to curb Tehran's ability to sell oil to obtain funds and hard currency. It banned imports of Iranian oil earlier this year.

Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com

New measures will ban European companies from providing shipbuilding technology and oil storage capabilities, as well as flagging and classification services to Iranian tankers.

Slideshow: Everyday life in Iran

At schools, in shops, and on the streets of big cities and small towns, daily life plays out in Iran.

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But some worry that whatever the intent, the effect is a dramatic cut in living standards for ordinary Iranians that may inflame anger against the West and fuel Iranian defiance.

In a speech broadcast on state television on Wednesday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei labeled the sanctions "barbaric."

Reuters contributed to this report.

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People walk past graffiti in central Athens on Monday ahead of the visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Debt-swamped Greece braced for two days of strikes, protests and potential violence as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, long demonized for her tough-talking, austerity-minded approach to Europe’s deepening woes, prepared to visit the epicenter of the crisis, three years since it began here.

To fend off potential attacks, at least 7,000 plainclothes police and hundreds more undercover agents have been mobilized from across the country to lock down the capital and erect steel fences around parliament. Snipers were already visibly stationed on the roof tops of government buildings in Athens; Commando Seals and Frogmen were also ordered on standby as helicopters began patrolling the Athenian skyline from Monday.

“It will be one of the biggest security drills in recent years,” said a senior police official speaking on condition of anonymity because of his knowledge of the security preparations.

Highly symbolic visit
In 1999, amid swelling opposition to NATO-led bombing raids in Kosovo, then-U.S. President Bill Clinton shortened a visit to Athens because of heightened security concerns mounted by a rash of rolling protests.

Deemed highly symbolic, Merkel’s seven-hour trip on Tuesday signals Berlin bid to keep Greece in the 17-nation euro and further mend strained relations with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, the 61-year-old conservative leader, and one of the chancellor’s staunchest anti-austerity critics.

“We want to help Greece stabilize itself in the euro zone,” German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in announcing the surprise visit, on Friday.

CNBC: World’s biggest debtor nations

Looming budget cuts have uncorked fresh social unrest, with the young, firebrand leader of Greece’s main opposition party, Syriza, calling on workers to flood the streets of Athens on Monday and Tuesday to show Merkel “the real Greece.” Other opposition parties are urging Greeks to gather at the German embassy and form a human shield around the building as Merkel meets with Samaras.

GSEE and ADEDY, the umbrella labor unions for private and public sector employees, have called for a three-hour job walk out across the greater Athens area Tuesday, bringing the country’s already anemic economy to fresh standstill as a rash of demonstration are set to grip the capital.

Swelling anti-German sentiment here has revived haunting memories of Greece’s Nazi occupation. While West Germany paid $22 billion in reparations to Greece in 1960, opposition parties have staked fresh demands for added outlays. At least 300,000 Greeks starved to death after the Nazi regime requisitioned food and other material.

CNBC: Which country has the lowest debt in the euro zone?

Thousands of people were slaughtered, the country's gold reserves were plundered by Hitler's forces and nearly 90 percent of the country's Jewish population was deported and exterminated.

The timing of the trip could not be more crucial: Samaras is struggling to reach agreement with his country’s international lenders on some $14 billion in added budget cuts. Failure to seal a deal could propel European leaders meeting on Oct. 18 to hold off on some $40 billion in bailout funds to Greece. That could push this tiny Mediterranean nation to bankruptcy within weeks, imperiling the fate of the European single currency.

CNBC: Spain finance minister’s ‘no bailout’ remark sparks laughter

“The stakes are enormous,” George Pagoulatos, professor of European Politics and Economy at Athens University, told CNBC. “That Merkel, however, has agreed to come to Athens and afford political backing to Samaras demonstrates in most demonstrable way possible, her decision to tackle Europe’s debt troubles with Greece within the euro equation.”

“For markets, international lenders and European leaders heading into that summit next week, this is a powerful message and any decision to arise [from that summit] will most probably be within that context,” he said.

Debt-choked Greece looks to sell off islands, marinas and more

Austerity
Even so, pundits and politicians here say that support will fall well short of any design by Europe’s biggest economy and Greece’s most powerful lender to let up on Berlin’s curative approach to the continent’s deepening debt woes: austerity.

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Over the weekend, in fact, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned that any disbursal of bailout funds to Greece hinged on Athens’ compliance with agreements to press ahead with added budget cuts -- a condition Samaras has already agreed to in securing a second $170 billion rescue loan from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund earlier this year.

Samaras, who fought his way to the helm of government after two divisive elections in May and June, has been trying to win over more time from creditors to ease the pain of a deeper-than-expected recession -- now in its fifth year.

Read this story on CNBC.com

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Ivica Dacic's election as Serbia's prime minister has triggered fears of resurgent nationalism in the Balkan country.

BELGRADE, Serbia -- Slobodan Milosevic's former spokesman became Serbia's new prime minister on Friday, promising to promote reconciliation in the Balkans after his nomination triggered fears of resurgent nationalism in the volatile region.

The election marks the first time Milosevic's former party and their allies will dominate the government since they ruled Serbia for a decade in the 1990s — an era marked with wars, international sanctions and economic downturn.

The West is watching Ivica Dacic nervously as the 46-year-old takes the reins of a country bidding to join the European Union little more than a decade since it was bombed by NATO.

'There has been enough blood'
Dacic was Milosevic's wartime spokesman, nick-named "Little Sloba" for his admiration of the former party chief. Dacic's nomination to the post of the prime minister triggered fears of resurgent nationalism in the Balkan country.

In the speech to the parliament on Thursday, Dacic tried to dispel those concerns, promising to advance Serbia's EU bid, press on with reform and promote reconciliation in the region.

He told lawmakers that "there has been enough blood in the Balkans."

"Let us turn to the future and not deal with the past," he said.

Milosevic was ousted from power in 2000 following a popular revolt. He was widely blamed for instigating the bloody Balkan wars that followed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. The wars claimed more than 100,000 lives and left millions homeless.

"Dacic is one of the most intelligent and cunning politicians in Serbia," said Nenad Sebek, executive director of the Center for Reconciliation and Democracy in Southeast Europe think-tank.

"Without ever saying sorry for what his party did during the 1990s under Milosevic, Dacic single-handedly returned the Socialists to the political mainstream in Serbia," Sebek told Reuters.

Slideshow: The charges against Ratko Mladic

Serge Ligtenberg / Getty Images

A career soldier, Mladic stands accused of orchestrating the siege of Sarajevo and the slaughter of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica.

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The Dacic’s Cabinet was approved with 142 votes for and 72 against in a 250-member assembly, ending nearly three months of political uncertainty that followed an inconclusive election on May 6.

Dacic's coalition government includes ministers from his own Socialist Party, from a nationalist Progressive Party of President Tomislav Nikolic as well as several smaller groups.

A red chair for every victim: Siege of Sarajevo marked

Milosevic died in 2006 in custody of the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, while on a genocide trial.  

Among the challenges facing the new government are widespread joblessness and a cash-strapped budget amid deepening economic crisis. The average monthly salary in Serbia is around €350 ($429), while poverty is widespread.

Working his way back to power
After Milosevic was ousted in 2000, Dacic assembled a team of young moderates to help overhaul the party, while retaining some of the old faces to appease the elderly ex-communist electorate.

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In 2006 he became party president, and two years later took the Socialists back to power as junior partner to the Democrats, the main party that had helped topple Milosevic. The ultimate pragmatist, he threw his support behind the country's EU ambitions.

"He has an almost computer-like precision when deciding when to forget or remember something," the Serbian daily Blic said.

Within the coalition, Dacic's party controlled state-run energy and gas monopoly Srbijagas and secured funds and close ties with Russia through a partnership with oil and gas giant Gazprom. Western diplomats admit his apparent affinity with Moscow makes them nervous.

Srebrenica: The story that will never end

When voters turned against the Democrats and their leader, two-time President Boris Tadic, in elections in May, Dacic saw his chance.

After weeks of negotiating to revive their alliance, Dacic said he was abandoning the Democrats in favor of the nationalist Serbian Progressive Party, whose leader Nikolic had just defeated Tadic in a presidential election.

Nikolic offered Dacic the post of prime minister. He took it, telling a reception last week:

"In this chamber there are many who toppled us in 2000, and I thank them, for if they hadn't toppled us we wouldn't have changed, realized our mistakes and we wouldn't be standing here today."

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Now he must prove he has changed, according to analysts.

"He is extremely smart and likely to be very cooperative when negotiating with the international community," said Sebek of the Center for Reconciliation and Democracy, "but he's still an eyesore for anyone who doesn't have the memory of a goldfish."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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BRUSSELS -- The European Union agreed Monday to a two-year, $10.7 million mission in Niger to train the African country's security forces to fight al-Qaida.

The mission will comprise 50 international staff members and 30 to be hired locally, the EU said.

The commitment signals the depth of EU concern over the growing threat Islamist militancy poses to the Sahel region in central and west Africa. Exemplifying the threat was the recent rebel takeover of northern Mali, which borders Niger.

The region has seen an influx of weapons and fighters flowing into the region after last year's revolt in Libya that ousted Moammar Gadhafi.

"Increased terrorist activity and the consequences of the conflict in Libya have dramatically heightened insecurity in the Sahel," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.

"European experts will train (Niger's) security forces to improve their control of the territory and regional co-operation," she said in a statement.

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The mission will be based in Niamey, with liaison officers in Bamako, the capital of neighboring Mali, and Nouakchott, capital of Mauritania.

The international staff will mostly be civilian security trainers from EU member states. The team will also have military expertise, EU officials said, but gave no further details.

Mali's March 22 coup precipitated the fall of the country's north to a mix of secular and Islamist rebels, who now control a desert region the size of France.

Related: Al-Qaida linked fighters destroy 'end of the world' gate in Timbuktu

The rebel takeover has emboldened al-Qaida's north Africa wing as well as other foreign militants, including Nigerian fighters from Islamist group Boko Haram.

Officials in Niger, a major uranium exporter, said last month that plans for the EU mission had been brought forward because of the threat of militant attacks from Mali.

This article includes reporting by Reuters.

Bing maps

Niamey, Niger, will be home of the European Union mission. Liaison officers will be in Bamako, the capital of neighboring Mali, and Nouakchott, capital of Mauritania.

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Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

Deborah Calitz, left, and Bruno Pelizzari appeared at a news conference hours after they were released by their captors in Mogadishu, Somalia. The two South Africans were held hostage for 20 months.

Two South African sailors were released Thursday after being held captive by Somali pirates for 20 months, according to news reports.

Hussein Arab Isse, Somalia's defense minister, said the Somali army and security forces helped release Deborah Calitz and Bruno Pelizzari, both about 50. Reuters reported that the couple appeared gaunt and ashen at Isse’s side at a press conference hours after their release.

Calitz and Pelizzari were kidnapped by 12 pirates while working aboard the Choizil in October 2010, as the yacht was about to enter the Mozambique channel on its return trip to South Africa.

At the time of their capture, the pirates set a $10 million ransom, although Somali elders told the Agence France-Presse that the amount paid was closer to $750,000.

The couple's captivity is among the longest time hostages have been held by Somali pirates. A British couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler, were kidnapped from their yacht and held for more than a year; they were freed in November 2010.

Somali pirates free kidnapped UK couple after a year

Kidnapping sailors has proven to be a lucrative business for the pirates, many of whom are young Somali men whose prospects have become increasingly limited by two decades of famine and war. Last year, Reuters reported, pirates collected $150 million from ransoms.

The European Union launched a robust anti-piracy effort in Somalia in 2008; the EU Naval Force’s mission is, in part, to protect humanitarian vessels bringing food to war-torn Somalia.

EU forces attack Somali pirates on land for first time

Although the EU has dispatched 10 naval ships since 2008 to patrol the waters off the Horn of Africa, according to the BBC, the pirates still have 213 hostages. At Thursday’s press conference, Isse said more raids would follow.

"We know the whereabouts of the rest of the hostages, including the French agent, and if the kidnappers fail to free them, we will forcefully rescue them," Isse said, according to AFP, referring to an intelligence agent kidnapped in Mogadishu in 2009.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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At a press conference during the G20 Summit Monday, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso fired back at critics who say Europe should bail itself out, arguing that the euro crisis was spurred by “unorthodox practices” across the Atlantic.

“We are extremely open and we are engaging with our partners but we certainly are not coming here to receive lessons from nobody!” Barroso, former prime minister of Portugal, exclaimed in English.

An hour before at the G20 Summit, held in Los Cabos, Mexico, Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper challenged Europe to overhaul the Eurozone to create a “genuine” financial union, the Montreal Gazette reported. Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard weighed in the day before, criticizing European leaders while boasting about her country’s economic growth, according to The Australian.

Barroso’s outburst was triggered by Canadian journalist David Akin, who asked him to explain “why North Americans should risk their assets for a Europe that many believe is wealthy enough to sort out its own problems.”

Canada and the United States have refused to contribute to a fund drive by the International Monetary Fund to help Europe. So far, the IMF has raised $430 billion from countries around the world -- about half of the money came from European nations -- to double its lending capability.

Although President Barack Obama would need Congress to approve a transfer to the IMF, a nearly impossible proposition, it appears the president wouldn't support the action. In April, his Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, said Europe should solve its own economic problems, The New York Times reported.

“Europe is a rich continent,” Geithner said, according to the Times.

Back at the summit, Barroso remained defensive.

“Many of our financial sectors were contaminated by, how can I put it? Unorthodox practice from some sectors of the financial market,” Barroso said, referring to Wall Street banking practices that triggered the recession.

PhotoBlog: World leaders pose for family picture at G20 summit

He added that while deliberations among the 27 members of the European Union may take time, Europeans do not need advice from other nations.

“Frankly, we are not coming here to receive lessons in terms of democracy or in terms of how to handle the economy,” Barroso said. “The European Union has a model that we may be very proud of.”

NBC’s Rich Gardella contributed to this report.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story misidentified Jose Manuel Barroso’s title. He was prime minister of Portugal from 2002 to 2004.

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Boris Roessler / EPA

German anti-riot police carry away a protester and her stuffed animal during protests in Frankfurt on Friday.

Police in Frankfurt, Germany, arrested about 400 "Blockupy" protesters Friday for defying a ban on anti-austerity demonstrations.

Several hundred people took to the streets to protest the European Union's austerity measures and the power of banks, as part of a four-day anti-capitalist "Blockupy" protest due to run until Saturday.

 According to Der Spiegel, around 5,000 police were on the ground backed up by water canons. There was no violence.

The protesters are angry at the misery they say governments are inflicting on people with their response to the crisis, which has intensified since inconclusive elections in Greece this month fueled concerns about its future in the euro zone.

"The Greek austerity measures are making Greece go kaputt even faster," said protester Leonard Loch, 37, from Hamburg. 

 The "Blockupy 'alliance criticized the massive police presence in Frankfurt, which is the seat of the European Central Bank and the largest financial center in continental Europe. The demonstrators were "all prudent and were holding back," Frauke Distelrath, spokesperson for the activist group Attac, told Die Welt. 

A court on Monday authorized a rave dance party organized by protesters on Wednesday and protests scheduled for Saturday, but ruled against them taking place on the other days. 

On Wednesday, police peacefully removed demonstrators from outside the ECB's Frankfurt headquarters and detained 150 demonstrators on Thursday for defying a ban on protests.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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A wounded protester gets assistance following clashes with riot policemen during a demonstration in Barcelona on March 29, 2012 on a national strike day.

Flag-waving Spanish workers livid over labor reforms they see as flagrantly pro-business blocked traffic Thursday, forming boisterous picket lines outside wholesale markets and bus garages, as part of a nationwide strike.

Unions claimed massive participation in the 24-hour stoppage protesting what they claim to be the latest dose of bitter medicine Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative government has prescribed to appease European Union overseers and jittery investors watching Spain's debt grow and its GDP shrink.

Police arrested a number of protesters in Madrid, while small-scale violence flared in Barcelona, Spain's second city. Tourists were locked out of the Alhambra, a 14th-century Moorish palace in the southern city of Granada which is one of Europe's great cultural monuments.

The unions demanded a "gesture" from the government to scale back the reforms, warning they could cause more unrest from May 1.

The government quickly said no, and downplayed the impact of the strike, which failed to bring the country to a standstill. "There is no stopping on the path to reform," Labor Minister Fatima Banez said.

In fact, the government will on Friday serve up even more austerity pain with a 2012 budget to feature tens of billions of euros (dollars) in deficit-reduction measures.

PhotoBlog: Workers strike in Spain filling streets and closing businesses

The cuts are designed to help Spain lower its deficit to within EU limits and calm the international investors who determine the country's borrowing costs in debt markets — and therefore have a lot of say in whether Spain will follow Greece, Ireland and Portugal in needing a bailout.

There were no reports of significant violence in Thursday's demonstration. A total of 58 people were detained and nine were injured in scuffles as the strike got under way a minute after midnight, Interior Ministry official Cristina Diaz said.

Unions are challenging a conservative government not yet 100 days old, protesting changes to labor market rules long regarded as among Europe's most rigid. Among other things the changes make it cheaper and easier for companies to lay people off and let them cut their wages unilaterally.

On the Gran Via, one of the Spanish capital's main commercial strips, a group of about 500 whistle-blowing picketers marched slowly, blocking traffic for about an hour. Police and helmeted riot police watched from the sidelines.

As the group made its way down the boulevard, many merchants — such as jewelers and clothing retailers — pulled down their metal shutters or locked their front doors.

PhotoBlog: Spanish protests turn violent, destructive

One protester, Angel Andrino, 31, said he was laid off a day after the labor reforms were approved in a decree last month. The government argues that while the reforms might hurt now, they will create jobs in the future. Spain is by official estimates already back in recession.

Andrino lives with his parents and brother, the latter the only one to be employed, with a part-time job.

"We are going through a really hard time, suffering," he said. "The rights that our parents and grandparents fought for are being wiped away without the public being consulted."

General Workers Union Secretary General Candido Mendez put average participation at midday at 77 percent but said that it was 97 percent in industry and construction. "This strike has been an unquestionable success," said Mendez.

Some statistics, however, suggested the strike had not brought the country to a standstill.

Electricity consumption — a measure of industrial and commercial activity — was down by 17 percent at mid-morning, according to the Interior Ministry. That is slightly less than during the last general strike in 2010, which was deemed only partially successful.

Investors are worried about prospects for continued, widespread social unrest of the kind seen in bailed-out Greece. But management professor Jose Ramon Pin of IESE Business School said this will not happen in Spain because people reluctantly accept that the country needs a radical economic makeover.

"This country is in no mood for taking to the streets," Pin said.

One of the strike's most noticeable effects was on public transportation, with unions guaranteeing only around 30 percent of normal service at rush hour times.

"We're offering the government a chance to start a different path (of reform) in search of wider consensus," Ignacio Fernandez Toxo, head of Spain's largest union Comisiones Obreras said. "If not there will be rising social conflict."

 The main airline, Iberia, canceled 65 percent of its flights.

By mid-morning, 402 flights had been canceled, National airport operator AENA said. Minimum services decreed by law ensured that 1,675 flights would operate — less than half of the average daily amount of more than 4,500 flights.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Miguel Medina / AFP - Getty Images

A 2008 photo shows Syrian first lady Asma Assad visiting the Louvre museum in Paris.

The European Union banned the wife of Syrian President Bashar Assad from traveling to the EU or shopping at European companies in a move to stop her from buying the Chanel dresses and Louboutin shoes she apparently craves.

The EU's latest round of sanctions, which also targeted the president's mother and sister, is notable for including Assad's London-born wife Asma, whose luxury shopping habit was laid bare this month in a cache of hacked emails.

Assad has been the target of sanctions since May last year, but these have so far had little impact on his policies. Violence has intensified in Syria in recent weeks as pro-government forces bombard rebel towns and villages, looking to sweep their lightly armed opponents out of their strongholds.

After Friday's decision, EU border guards will refuse Asma entry if she tries to travel into the bloc, though Britain will have to allow her in if she uses a British passport.

"British nationals, British passport holders do obviously have a right of entry to the United Kingdom," Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

Report: 'I am the real dictator,' wife of Syria's Bashar Assad says

"But given that we are imposing an asset freeze on all of these individuals, and a travel ban on other members of the same family and the regime, we're not expecting Mrs. Assad to try to travel to the United Kingdom at the moment," he said.

A former investment banker, Asma Assad once cultivated the image of a serious-minded woman inspired by liberal values.

But she appears to have continued a life of luxury shopping and entertainment during the uprising against the four-decade rule of the Assad family, while according to the United Nations at least 8,000 people have been killed in the violence.

Emails she exchanged with her husband, obtained by Britain's Guardian newspaper, apparently showed they were buying pop music and luxury goods on the internet during the bloodshed.

Making sanctions personal
Asma Assad, a 36-year-old mother of three, was shown to have a penchant for crystal-encrusted Christian Louboutin shoes and Chanel dresses from France.

Before the Syrian insurgency started a year ago, a glowing article in Vogue magazine described her as "a rose in the desert" and her household as "wildly democratic."

But that image has crumbled as the emails showed her spending tens of thousands of pounds on jewels, fancy furniture, and a Venetian glass vase from Harrods.

EU foreign ministers also added other Syrians to a list of those facing asset freezes and bans on travel to the bloc, and barred EU companies from doing business with two Syrian oil companies, EU officials said.

The decisions, which come into force on Saturday, follow 12 previous rounds of sanctions aimed at isolating Assad within Syria and cutting off his sources of finance. These included an arms embargo and a ban on importing Syrian oil into the EU.

"With this new listing we are striking at the heart of the Assad clan, sending out a loud and clear message to Mr. Assad: he should step down," Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal said.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the international community's objective was "a situation where Assad recognizes his responsibility, moves aside and we are able to see a genuine movement forward in Syria".

The international community has struggled to formulate a joint approach to Syria in the face of opposition from Russia and China to U.N. Security Council resolutions proposed by the West.

French foreign minister Alain Juppe called on the Syrian opposition to unite and present a plan to EU leaders. Such a move had been crucial for the Libyan opposition last year, and had helped galvanize Western support.

It is a priority "to convince the opposition to get together and organize itself. You can't win when you're divided," he said. "I make a reference to the National Transition Council in Libya, which came to Brussels to present its political road map, and that had a lot of impact to give it credibility. The Syrian opposition needs to do the same."

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The United States will spare Japan and 10 European Union nations from U.S. financial sanctions because they have significantly reduced purchases of Iranian crude oil, officials said Tuesday.

The decision is a victory for the 11 countries, whose banks need not fear being possibly cut off from the U.S. financial system under new U.S. sanctions designed to pressure Iran over its nuclear program.

The EU nations, which had already decided to cease importing Iranian crude, include Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain, a senior U.S. State Department official told reporters.

“The actions taken by these countries were not easy,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a prepared statement. “They had to rethink their energy needs at a critical time for the world economy and quickly begin to find alternatives to Iranian oil.”

Related story: US companies lose as sanctions strangle Iran 

She said the EU nations’ actions show “their solidarity and their commitment to holding Iran accountable for its failure to comply with its international obligations.”

She called Japan’s efforts “especially noteworthy considering the extraordinary energy and other challenges it has faced over the past year.”

Koji Sasahara / AP

An oil tanker is moored recently at an oil loading platform adjacent to an oil refinery in Kawasaki, west of Tokyo. Japan posted a record high trade deficit in January after its nuclear crisis shut down nearly all the nation's reactors for tougher checks, sending fuel imports surging.

Japan increased its dependence on fuel imports after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, knocked out most of its nuclear power-generating capabilities.  Almost 9 percent of its crude imports came from Iran, according to published reports.

The State Department list did not include China and India, Iran's top two crude oil importers, nor U.S. allies South Korea and Turkey, which are among the top 10 consumers of Iranian oil.

A senior State Department official said 12 countries that import Iranian crude may eventually be subject to financial sanctions unless they significantly cut their purchases. The official did not name the countries, Reuters reported.

Under the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, President Barack Obama has the ability to impose financial sanctions on foreign banks that carry out financial transactions with Iran's central bank ``for the purchase of petroleum or petroleum products from Iran'' if several conditions are met.

The United States has gradually tightened sanctions because of Iran's failure to answer questions about its nuclear program, which Washington and its allies suspect is a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says it is solely to generate power.

This article includes reporting by Reuters.

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