- Iran and the European Union look to be heading for a clash over the bloc’s plans to apply sanctions to punish Tehran for its response to ongoing protests.
- Iran has warned of the “detrimental consequences on Iran-Europe ties” of any sanctions.
- The EU has been mediating between Tehran and Washington since April 2021 in their efforts to re-establish the 2015 nuclear deal.
Iran and the European Union look to be heading for a clash over the bloc’s plans to apply sanctions to punish Tehran for its response to ongoing protests.
European authorities are allegedly poised to finalise human rights penalties against Iranian officials and entities during a meeting of foreign ministers scheduled for Monday in Luxembourg.
Iran has made it clear that it would not stand by if the EU joins the United States, Britain, and Canada in implementing sanctions, with foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian warning three European foreign ministers this week of “reciprocal action.”
“Some nations have considered riots and terrorist actions as protests in interventionist comments, which effectively promote rioters and terrorists,” the Iranian envoy told his Portuguese counterpart, Joo Gomes Cravinho, in a late Friday phone call.
According to Politico, Tehran has discreetly warned the EU, sending letters to EU ambassadors and foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warning of the “detrimental consequences on Iran-Europe ties” of any sanctions.
But European authorities remain unconcerned, as France’s foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, who talked with Amirabdollahian earlier this week, assured French lawmakers that sanctions will be implemented “despite the pressure made by Iran to portray our stances as interference.”
This comes as the EU has been mediating between Tehran and Washington since April 2021 in their efforts to re-establish the 2015 nuclear deal, which the latter unilaterally terminated in 2018. The discussions have been stalled due to a lack of progress, the impending US midterm elections, and now protests in Iran, which make a resolution increasingly difficult, at least in the short term.
Protests erupted across Iran following the death on September 16 of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was imprisoned by Iran’s morality police for wearing an inappropriate hijab and died after a three-day coma after suffering a heart attack in a police “re-education” centre in Tehran.
The final report of the medical examiner, which was also supported by the parliament, stated that she did not suffer any blows to the head or vital organs, and that Amini died as a result of complications from brain tumour surgery when she was eight years old. Her family has stated that they believe she was abused while in police custody.
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