Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd says Australia will follow the European Union's lead in banning Iranian oil imports - but admits the scale of those imports at present is "negligible".

On Monday the EU imposed a ban on Iranian oil imports from July in an effort to increase pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.

Speaking in London, Mr Rudd said Australia would be taking parallel action.

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"On the question of Iran, let me be absolutely clear [regarding] the actions taken in Brussels yesterday on sanctions by the European Union, we in Australia will undertake precisely the same parallel action for Australia," he said.

But this might be more of a symbolic gesture.

Mr Rudd was asked of Australia's reliance, if any, on Iranian oil imports.

"They have become negligible over time," he admitted, while saying "this is not a piece of idle philanthropy on the part of Australian foreign policy."

The EU absorbs about 20 per cent of Iran's oil exports.

Tehran denies its nuclear program is for military purposes, insisting it is for civilian use.

Kevin Rudd and British foreign secretary William Hague in London. ( AFP: Adrian Dennis )

On Tuesday Iran said it expected the EU to backtrack on the embargo and repeated a threat to close the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane if the West succeeds in preventing Tehran from exporting crude.

"The West's ineffective sanctions against the Islamic state are not a threat to us. They are opportunities and have already brought lots of benefits to the country," intelligence minister Heydar Moslehi told the official IRNA news agency.

The tone in the Islamic Republic was defiant, even sceptical.

"The global economic situation is not one in which a country can be destroyed by imposing sanctions," Mr Moslehi said, repeating Iran's stance that with the EU in economic and monetary crisis, it needs Iran's oil more than Iran needs its business.

A spokesman for the oil ministry said Iran had had plenty of time to prepare for the sanctions and would find alternative customers for the 18 per cent of its exports that up to now have gone to the 27-nation European bloc.

"The first phase of this (sanctions action) is propaganda, only then it will enter the implementation phase. That is why they put in this six months period, to study the market," Alireza Nikzad Rahbar said, predicting the embargo could be rescinded before it takes force completely.

"This market will harm them because oil is getting more expensive and when oil gets more expensive it will harm the people of Europe," state TV quoted him as saying.

"We hope that in these six months they will choose the right path."

The embargo will not kick in completely until July 1 because the bloc's foreign ministers who agreed the ban at a meeting in Brussels were anxious not to penalise the ailing economies of Greece, Italy and others to whom Iran is a major oil supplier.

Sorry, this video has expired EU imposes embargo on Iran ( Philip Williams )

ABC/wires