A European Union official said that the bloc could lift sanctions imposed against Iran in December or in January as a part of a nuclear agreement sealed between the Islamic Republic and world powers last week.

A European Union official said that the bloc could lift sanctions imposed against Iran in December or in January as a part of a nuclear agreement sealed between the Islamic Republic and world powers last week.

Spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Michael Mann, said on Monday that “There is at the moment a proposal for the easing of a limited number of sanctions.”

“I cannot say at this point exactly when the initial decisions on this would happen - it could be in December, it could be in January,” he added.

He said the EU experts should prepare the draft amendment to the sanctions legislation that must be endorsed by the EU foreign ministers later.

Mann said that the timing of the partial sanctions removal “depends how long the legislative process takes”, adding that it would be coordinated with Iran.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the US - plus Germany sealed an interim deal on November 24 to pave the way for the full resolution of the West’s decade-old dispute with Iran over the country’s nuclear energy program.

In exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities, the United States and its allies have undertaken to lift some of the existing sanctions against Tehran.