Australia imposes oil sanctions on Iran over nuclear program Rudd: Iran's nuclear program is destabilizing for the region and the wider world Australia's move follows EU measures that ban Iranian oil imports, freeze central bank assets Britain's defense secretary says it can ramp up its naval presence in the Gulf if need be The sanctions are designed to get Iran to give up its controversial nuclear program London (CNN) -- Australia will follow the European Union's lead in imposing sanctions on Iran's oil imports, Foreign Secretary Kevin Rudd said Tuesday in London, amid international concern over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. The European Union announced Monday it would cut off oil imports from Iran and freeze assets in an effort to starve the country's nuclear program of funding. Rudd, speaking after a meeting of British and Australian foreign and defense officials, said Australia was "deeply concerned" about Iran and would impose parallel measures to those announced in Brussels. "We believe this is the right course of action," he said. We believe that for the simple reason that the Iranian nuclear weapons program is fundamentally destabilizing, not just for the wider Middle East and the Gulf states, but also for the wider world. The sanctions announced Monday freeze the assets of Iran's central bank in European Union nations and ban the importation of Iranian oil to those countries. The measures also block European Union countries from exporting petrochemical equipment and technology to Iran, or trading diamonds and precious metals with the Middle Eastern state. The U.N nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has expressed similar concerns. British Foreign Secretary William Hague, speaking alongside Rudd, said the measures represented "a significant increase -- a major increase -- in the peaceful, legitimate pressure on the Iranian government to return to negotiations over its nuclear program. "Until it does so, the pressure will only increase and Britain and Australia share the same sense of resolve about that," Hague added. Rudd said the reason for such concerted action was clear. "The message needs to be delivered to the people of Iran, the wider political elites of Iran, as well as the government of Iran, that their behavior is globally unacceptable," he said. Tehran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, the only outlet to and from the Persian Gulf, in response to sanctions -- a move that has increased international tensions. Seventeen million barrels of oil per day passed through the critical shipping lane in 2011, according to the Energy Information Administration. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said Tuesday that Britain had sent the British ship HMS Argyll through the strait alongside U.S. and French ships Sunday "to send a clear signal about the resolve of the international community to defend the right of free passage through international waters." Britain also has vessels in the Gulf equipped to counter the laying of mines, he said, as part of the allied presence in the area. "The United Kingdom has a contingent capability to reinforce that presence, should at any time it be considered necessary to do so," he warned. Iran's deputy foreign minister, Abbas Aragchi, said Monday that the measures against it would only harm the fragile economies of the European Union, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency. "Sanctions have proved ineffective in the past and will prove futile in the future, too," IRNA quoted Aragchi as saying. The European Union will allow contracts that are already in place to be fulfilled until July 1, it said. Rudd said Australian imports of Iranian oil were currently "negligible," while his country's exports to Iran had already declined greatly in recent years in line with foreign policy concerns. "This costs, but is a cost worth paying," he said. The Iranian government gets about half its revenue from oil exports, according to the agency. The U.S. government took its own punitive action regarding Iran Monday, with the Treasury Department targeting the nation's third-largest bank, the state-owned Bank Tejarat, for allegedly working with other Iranian banks and firms subject to sanctions tied to Iran's nuclear program.