Senior Iranian lawmakers have stepped up threats that Islamic Republic warships could block the Persian Gulf's oil tanker traffic after the latest blow by Western leaders seeking to rein in Tehran's nuclear program: A punishing oil embargo by the European Union that sharply raises the economic stakes for Iran's defiance.

Turkey's fraught relationship with France is set to erode further after the French Senate passed controversial legislation criminalizing any public denial of what the bill calls the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey in 1915 -- a description Turkey has rejected.

The French Senate has approved a controversial bill that makes it a criminal offence to deny that genocide was committed by Ottoman Turks against Armenians during World War I.

By David Blair, Chief Foreign Correspondent
11:01AM GMT 23 Jan 2012
Diplomats in Brussels said the EU foreign ministers would officially adopt the measures later Monday that were hashed out by the 27 ambassadors.
The measures include an immediate embargo on new contracts for crude oil and petroleum products while existing ones are allowed to run until July.

AFP 23.01.2012

PARIS — French senators vote Monday on a bill to outlaw denial of the Armenian genocide, a move that a furious Turkey has vowed it would punish with "permanent" sanctions if it is passed into law.
The French lower house drew a first wave of Turkish ire last month, when it approved the bill which threatens with jail anyone in France who denies that the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces amounted to genocide.
Ankara froze political and military ties with France and has promised further measures if the measure is passed by the Senate or is approved by President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose right-wing UMP party put forward the bill.