Fresh European Union sanctions will target the “inner circle of power” of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Germany says as the bloc convenes to respond to what it has condemned as Tehran’s widespread use of force against peaceful protesters.
The protests, triggered by the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini in morality police custody, mark one of the boldest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution.
So far, 336 demonstrators have been killed in the unrest and nearly 15,100 detained, according to the activist HRANA news agency.
“We will adopt another sanctions package to send a clear message to those who think they can suppress, intimidate and kill their own people without consequences,” Baerbock told reporters on Monday as she arrived for a meeting with her EU counterparts in Brussels.
“They cannot,” she added. “The world, Europe is watching.”
“New sanctions will target in particular the inner circle of power of the Revolutionary Guards and the structures financing them.”
In a first round of sanctions in October, the EU imposed travel bans and asset freezes on 15 Iranian individuals and institutions linked to the young woman’s death and the clamp-down on protests.
The new package would see 31 designations for human rights violations that would target individuals and entities covering asset bans and travel freezes, two diplomats told Reuters.
Russia’s war in Ukraine will be another major topic of the discussions in Brussels amid speculation that the West may nudge Kyiv to enter negotiations with Moscow.
Read the article by in The West Australian.