Negotiations and sanctions, rather than military action, are the only way to defuse tensions in Iran, Danish foreign minister said on Friday.

"The way to keep the Iranians away from (nuclear weapons) is to try to bring them back to the negotiation table," said Villy Soevndal at a meeting with international journalists.

"Therefore, we are going to discuss strengthened sanctions to force the Iranian government back to negotiation and to allow inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Iran," he added.

European Union (EU) foreign ministers will discuss further sanctions and a possible oil embargo against Iran at a meeting on Jan. 23 in Brussels, in an effort to put pressure on the country for its nuclear program.

"I expect on Jan. 23 that European countries are moving further on sanctions towards Iran. What they will finally be, we don't know yet, but they concern oil and the financial sector," Soevndal said.

"The military option is not the answer for the situation in Iran. There are very few, if any, European foreign ministers who think that would be an answer to the situation," he added.

Some southern European countries import significant quantities of oil from Iran, and it is believed that an EU-wide embargo on Iranian oil would hurt these economies further, at a time when they are already suffering from entrenched sovereign debt problems.

"There is a dilemma: countries like Greece, Italy and Spain get quite a bit of their oil from Iran, and if sanctions are established, we have to secure that these countries are still able to get oil," Soevndal said, replying to a question from Xinhua.

"I think there might be some of the Gulf countries which would be interested in delivering even more oil in that situation," he added.

Soevndal mentioned Libya, whose oil production is recovering after declining dramatically during the conflict last year, as a potential alternative source of oil deliveries to the EU.

Iran exports some 2.6 million barrels of oil per day (bpd), among which 500,000 bpd goes to the EU. Greece, Italy and Spain respectively import about 25 percent, 13 percent and 10 percent of their oil from Iran.

In a November report on Iran's nuclear program, the IAEA said "credible" evidence showed the Islamic Republic had been seeking to obtain nuclear weapons. But Tehran rejected the report and insisted its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes.

Denmark seeks to play a bigger role on EU foreign affairs, including on the issue of Iran, during Denmark's six-month EU presidency starting from January.