EU puts further sanctions on Iran due to crackdown on protests

In response to Tehran’s deadly assault on protestors, the EU added 37 additional Iranian officials and businesses to its asset freeze and visa restriction blacklist on Monday.

In its fourth wave of penalties over the suppression of protesters, the bloc singled out Iran’s minister of sports and the Revolutionary Guards command in 12 provinces, according to the EU’s official journal.

The list was expanded to include conservative MPs, senior state media figures, and the leader of the authority enforcing the nation’s stringent “morality” laws.

More than 60 Iranian persons and organizations, including the “morality police,” Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders, and state media, have already received penalties from the EU as a result of the crackdown on protestors.

Despite requests from Germany and the Netherlands, the 27-nation bloc has so far refrained from designating the Revolutionary Guards themselves as a terrorist organization.

Iranian officials have cautioned the EU against making the move, and EU officials are concerned that it may end stalled efforts to renew the 2015 deal on Tehran’s nuclear program that was being mediated by Brussels.

Josep Borrell, the head of the EU’s foreign policy, emphasized that before the bloc took action, there had to be a court decision in one of its member states.

You cannot claim that you are a terrorist simply because of your dislike, Borrell remarked.

When a court from one member state produces a legal declaration, a definite condemnation, it must be done.

Since the Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, 22, was arrested in Tehran on September 16 for allegedly failing to follow the Islamic republic’s stringent dress codes, protests have erupted across the country. She passed away while in custody.

According to the United Nations, Iran has detained at least 14,000 individuals throughout the wave of protests.

Four persons were put to death by Iranian authorities for their involvement in the riots, while another 18 received the death penalty, which led to significant worldwide criticism.

The incarceration of EU citizens by Iran, which is viewed as “hostage-taking” by rights organizations and the relatives of the detainees, was brought up by the foreign ministers of France and Belgium, who encouraged the bloc to address the matter.

French Minister Catherine Colonna stated, “I believe it is time for us Europeans to consider how to react to this policy of state hostage-taking that Iran is currently pursuing.

This needs to be taken into consideration in our planning and future decisions.

Olivier Vandecasteele, a Belgian aid worker who was convicted of “espionage” and given a lengthy prison sentence as well as a public beating, is the target of pressure from Brussels.

Last Monday, France declared that it is “very anxious” for the wellbeing of French-Irish national Bernard Phelan, who has been detained in Iran since October.

In Iran, there are about twenty dual nationals and foreigners detained.