European Union member states on Monday approved new sanctions against Iran for its crackdown on peaceful protests and military support to Russia by supplying drones that Moscow is using to attack civilian targets in Ukraine.
The EU-27 have agreed to add 20 individuals and one entity linked to the violent repression of demonstrations over the death of young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in custody of the morality police. In this way, the EU extends the already existing sanctions for violations of fundamental rights, bringing the total number of people affected by the restrictions to 146 individuals and 15 entities.
These are members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, responsible in different provinces for the violent repression by the Iranian security forces, as well as the entity is the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Company (IRIB), the state corporation spokesperson of the Iranian regime.
«The authorities are continuing their crackdown on Iranian demonstrations. They are applying capital punishment against people involved in the protests,» said the High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, in relation to the second prisoner executed in Iran for an alleged crime arising from the protests over the death of Mahsa Amini. In this sense, the head of EU diplomacy has pointed out that the EU considers «unacceptable» the use of capital punishment as a tool to repress protests in Iran.
On the other hand, the EU has extended restrictions on arms supplies to Russia to four individuals and four entities related to military support to Moscow, including the head of the Iranian Air Force, leaders of the aerospace branch of the Revolutionary Guard and the head of a company specializing in the export of drone components.
With these measures, the European bloc already sanctions 11 individuals and nine entities for their role in the development and delivery of drones used by Russia in its war against Ukraine.
