Iran to announce reciprocal sanctions in response to EU bans
Tehran has reacted to the European Union’s latest sanctions that target a number of Iranian officials and entities, promising countermeasures in response to the EU’s move.
MEHR:Tehran has reacted to the European Union’s latest sanctions that target a number of Iranian officials and entities, promising countermeasures in response to the EU’s move.
The announcement came late Monday, hours after the Council of the European Union imposed restrictive measures on 32 Iranian individuals and two entities in a fifth round of sanctions over what the bloc called Tehran's crackdown on the recent riots.
"The Islamic Republic will soon announce a list of its reciprocal sanctions in response to the European Union's recent bans," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan'ani said.
According to the EU press release, Iran's Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Mehdi Esmaeili, Minister of Education Yousef Nouri, the deputy commander and spokesperson of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), a number of MPs, members of the police and judiciary in various parts of the country, as well as prison wardens are among the individuals blacklisted by the EU.
The EU's restrictive measures now apply to a total of 196 individuals and 33 entities, consisting of an asset freeze, a travel ban to the EU, and a prohibition on making funds or economic resources available to those listed.
The 27-nation bloc has been slapping sanctions against Iran over what it calls the country's approach to the foreign-backed riots that erupted in September following the tragic death of a young Iranian woman, called Mahsa Amini. She fainted at a police station in Tehran and was pronounced dead three days later at the hospital. An official report by Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization concluded that Amini’s death was caused by illness rather than alleged blows to the head or other vital body organs.
Following her death, rioters went on a rampage, brutally attacking security officers and causing massive damage to public property. Dozens of people and security personnel were killed in the riots.
On Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in a phone call that the EU is sticking to former US President Donald Trump’s “ineffectual” policy of sanctions against Tehran.
“The behavior of the European Union in recent months is the continuation of Trump's ineffective Iran policy. It further proves the continuation of dual and unrealistic standards combined with the exploitation of human rights concepts,” he said.
