European Union member countries have reached a preliminary agreement to ban the imports of Iranian crude oil to the EU.

EU diplomatic sources said Wednesday, local time, that the 27 EU member countries agreed in principle to ban oil imports from Iran, as Greece, Spain and Italy dropped their objections to the embargo. The three countries are highly dependent on oil from Iran.

However, EU sources said members of the European bloc have yet to narrow differences on the details of the sanction, such as the timing and method to put the ban into force.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé told a news conference Wednesday that the import ban will be officially decided upon in a meeting of EU foreign ministers on January 30th.

However, EU officials predict that putting the embargo into force immediately would be difficult, despite its endorsement at the meeting of EU ministers.