EU expands sanctions against Iran for 'serious human rights violations,' support to Russia

The European Council adopted new sanctions Thursday against Iran for "serious human rights violations" and Tehran's continued support for Russia in Moscow's war in Ukraine.

The Council decided to impose restrictive measures on an additional 15 persons and six entities following the "violent repression" of peaceful protests, including the use of violence, arbitrary detention and intimidation tactics by security forces against demonstrators.

Eskandar Momeni, the interior minister and head of the National Security Council, and members of the judicial system, including Mohammad Movahedi-Azad, the prosecutor general, and Iman Afshari, a presiding judge, were among the high profile figures for whom restrictive measures were imposed, the Council said in a statement.

"In addition, today's listings cover a number of IRGC (Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) commanders and high ranking officers of the police and the Law Enforcement Force (LEF)."

It noted that the entities listed include the Iranian Audio-Visual Media Regulatory Authority (SATRA), Seraj Cyberspace Organization, the Working Group for Determining Instances of Criminal Content (WGDICC) and several software companies.

"Restrictive measures related to human rights violations in Iran now apply to a total of 247 individuals and 50 entities," it said.

And because of Tehran's support for Russia, the Commission imposed restrictive measures on four Iranians and six entities under the EU dedicated sanctions regime, "with a specific focus on the Iranian state-sponsored programme for the development and production of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)."

"Today's listings include Khojir Missile Development and Production, a leading entity in Iran's ballistic missile programme, and Sahara Thunder, an Iranian import-export trading company which acts as a front company for the Iranian Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics," it added.

The sanctions came as EU foreign ministers agreed Thursday to designate the IRGC a "terrorist organisation," in a move which the bloc's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said "repression cannot go unanswered."