EU, UK Announce New Sanctions on Iran

Date: 24 April 2023 - 23:08

News ID: ۱۱۴۲۸۶

BRUSSELS (Dispatches) -- The European Union and the UK on Monday imposed new sanctions on a number of Iranian individuals and entities over alleged human rights violations.
In a statement, the European Union’s Council said it has decided to impose restrictive measures on eight additional individuals and one entity over an allegation that they were responsible for serious human rights violations in Iran.
The council, it said, is sanctioning Arian Tel Communication Company, accusing the Iranian mobile service provider of contributing to the telecommunications surveillance architecture.
The new restrictions also include Iranian lawmakers, members of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and the IRCG Cooperative Foundation, the body responsible for managing the IRGC’s investments.
The European Union has so far imposed several packages of sanctions on a total of 211 individuals and 35 entities over the claim of gross human rights violations during the protest that sparked following the death of a young Iranian woman in September.
They consist of an asset freeze, a travel ban to the EU and a prohibition to make funds or economic resources available to those listed. A ban on exports to Iran of equipment which might be used for internal repression and of equipment for monitoring telecommunications is also in place.
Protests over the death of a 22-year-old Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, who fainted at a police station on September 16 and was later pronounced dead at a Tehran hospital, erupted first in her native province of Kordestan and later in several cities, including the capital Tehran.
What started as peaceful protests took a violent turn after unruly protesters fatally attacked policemen and indulged in vandalism against public property in several cities.
Britain, the European Union and the United States have in recent months issued several rounds of sanctions against Iran over allegations of human rights violation after Amini’s death.
The UK government followed suit and announced its decision on Monday to toughen its sanctions against the IRGC for alleged human rights violations.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly announced a travel ban and asset freezes on four individuals and the IRGC “in its entirety” and said the decision was made in coordination with the United States and the European Union but gave no more details.
More than 70 Iranian officials and entities have been made subject to UK asset freezes and travel bans since October last year.
Cleverly leveled accusations against the Iranian government, claiming that it was responsible for the “brutal repression of the Iranian people and for exporting bloodshed around the world.”
In a tit-for-tat move, Iran has imposed its own sanctions on the UK and the EU in response to previous restrictions.