U.S., U.K. consider freezing Egyptian assets

A senior U.S. official says the Obama administration is examining requests from Egypt's new government to freeze the assets of top aides to ousted President Hosni Mubarak, AP reports.

The official told reporters at the State Department on Monday that the administration had received requests regarding some senior officials in Mubarak's regime but not the former president himself, AP reports.

The official said the Treasury Department is looking at them and will make a decision in the coming days. The official did not identify the individuals whose U.S. assets were being studied and spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The official's comments came after Britain's foreign secretary said the European Union will discuss a request from Egypt's military rulers to freeze assets held by members of Mubarak's regime.

William Hague told the House of Commons on Monday that Egypt's new leaders had requested that the U.K. and others take action against several ex-officials, but did not specify whether they included Mubarak himself.

Hague said European Union finance ministers would discuss the request later Monday and on Tuesday during their talks in Brussels.