Iran has taken steps to prevent billions of dollars from being frozen if European nations agree to new sanctions, Iranian government official Mohsen Talaie told an Iranian weekly. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered that $75 billion be taken out of European banks and converted to shares in gold or to Asian banks, he added.

The move came as Britain announced it is freezing assets of Iran's largest bank and will persuade other European nations to do the same in an effort to discourage Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.