Tue Jan 24, 2012 5:51pm GMT
* Total, Shell big buyers of Iranian oil
* Firms could declare force majeure in July-lawyer
* Switzerland might stall on EU sanctions
By Emma Farge
ZURICH/BRUSSELS, Jan 24 (Reuters) – The EU is banning not only imports of Iranian oil but also crude purchased by European companies, including Total and Royal Dutch Shell, for sale to non-EU destinations, lawyers and officials familiar with the terms of the sanctions told Reuters.
The European Union on Monday embargoed imports of oil from Iran and imposed a number of other economic sanctions, joining the United States in a new round of measures aimed at slowing Tehran’s nuclear development programme.