Iran says EU ‘surrendering sovereignty’ by backing US sanctions

Iran accused the European Union early Tuesday of abandoning its legal and political independence by siding with Washington on sanctions against Tehran.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ismail Baqai said the bloc appears to be "surrendering its sovereignty, its laws and regulations, its values, and its ethics to American coercion."

Writing on US social media platform X, Baqai pointed to the EU's own Blocking Statute, which seeks to protect European businesses from the extraterritorial application of certain foreign sanctions.

He questioned how Brussels could back unilateral US measures against Iran while maintaining legislation that rejects such extraterritorial restrictions.

Baqai said the EU had taken a markedly different position in 1996, when it adopted the Blocking Statute in response to US sanctions.

"Today it has become an accessory to Washington's lawless conduct," he said.

He also warned that EU member states could bear responsibility for the consequences of supporting US economic measures against Iran.

Baqai said backing Washington's pressure campaign while calling for de-escalation and regional stability are "mutually exclusive" positions.

His remarks came amid renewed regional tensions following Sunday US strikes on Iran's Larak Island near the Strait of Hormuz, which Iranian media said killed two people and injured two others.

Iran subsequently announced retaliatory attacks on sites used by US forces in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

Last month, US President Donald Trump announced what he called "the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country," part of his maximum pressure campaign against Iran.

Trump said the campaign would seek to cut Tehran's financial channels and warned countries providing Iran with an economic "lifeline" through financial institutions, businesses, or government entities of severe economic consequences.