Envoy:
So-called EU sanctions list has no basis in intl. law
European Union's fresh sanctions against a number of Iranian entities and individuals were illegal and "another failed miscalculation" by the bloc, an Iranian ambassador says.
MEHR: European Union's fresh sanctions against a number of Iranian entities and individuals were illegal and "another failed miscalculation" by the bloc, an Iranian ambassador says.
“The so-called EU sanctions list has no basis in int'l law. It's just another failed #miscalculation,” Abbas Bagherpour Ardekani wrote on his Twitter account on Tuesday.
He noted that “adding the name of Chairman of Iran-Austria (& Iran-Germany) friendship group, despite his outstanding efforts, indicates a serious deviation from the principle of dialogue.”
In a press release issued on Monday, the EU Council said it has decided to impose restrictive measures on additional 32 Iranian individuals and two entities in a fifth round of sanctions over what the bloc claimed to be Tehran's crackdown on the recent foreign-backed riots.
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 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.
