French news agency AFP reported that the President George W. Bush on Friday extended by one year a freeze of Iranian government assets in the United States that has been in place since the 1979 Islamic revolution, the White House said.

The United States is also pushing for UN sanctions to punish Iran for its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear work. The asset freeze, which has been renewed every year, was ordered on Nov. 14, 1979, 10 days after Islamist militants took over the US embassy in Tehran.