EU dismisses sanctions by Iran as ‘politically motivated’

Iran introduced sanctions in opposition to eight establishments and 12 people primarily based within the EU after alleging they're ‘supporting terrorist teams’.

A demonstrator holds a poster in Berlin throughout a protest following the loss of life of Mahsa Amini in Iran [File: Christian Mang/Reuters]

The European Union has dismissed retaliatory sanctions Iran has positioned on European people and media retailers as “purely politically motivated” because it expressed concern about Tehran’s ongoing violent repression of anti-government protests.

“The European Union rejects the sanctions as they seem like purely politically motivated,” overseas affairs spokesman Peter Stano stated on Thursday.

“Once you take the EU sanctions [on Iran], they're adopted on clear authorized grounds, primarily based on the proof of human rights violations in Iran,” he stated.

A wave of unrest has rocked Iran since 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in September after her arrest by ‘morality police’ in Tehran [File: UGC/AFP]

Sanctions

Iran on Wednesday introduced sanctions in opposition to eight establishments and 12 people primarily based within the EU, accusing them of “supporting terrorist teams”, “inciting violence” and “frightening riots, violence and terrorist acts” in Iran in relation to the anti-regime protests.

The Iranian blacklist consists of the Worldwide Committee in Search of Justice, the Worldwide League in opposition to Racism and Anti-Semitism, and the Persian variations of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle and Radio France Internationale.

European politicians and two people on the German tabloid newspaper Bild had been additionally sanctioned.

These on the record are topic to visa bans and the seizure of any property or property the focused people and entities have in Iran.

The sanctions had been imposed in response to October 17 sanctions the EU had positioned in opposition to Iran’s “morality police” and 11 officers, together with the telecommunications minister.

They had been drawn up after the loss of life of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who died on September 16 after being taken into custody by the “morality police”. They had been additionally in response to subsequent repression that has included web blackouts.

Stano stated “as an alternative of specializing in political retaliation and countersanctions”, Iran’s leaders want “to take heed to their very own inhabitants, to the younger folks and to grant them the fundamental rights, together with the appropriate to the liberty of expression”.

He stated the EU was involved in regards to the crackdown by Iran’s safety forces that has resulted in “not solely accidents throughout these protests … but in addition deaths of protesters”.