- At least 37 Iranian officials were blacklisted on Monday.
- This is the fourth round of sanctions against Tehran.
- The complete list of names was to be published in the EU’s official journal later that day.
BRUSSELS: According to officials, the European Union (EU) placed 37 more Iranian officials and entities on an asset freeze and visa ban blacklist on Monday in response to Tehran’s bloody crackdown on protesters.
The EU’s foreign ministers met in Brussels and approved the fourth round of sanctions against Tehran for its repression of demonstrators.
The complete list of names was to be published in the EU’s official journal later that day.
Over the crackdown on protesters, the EU has already sanctioned more than 60 Iranian officials and entities, including Tehran’s “morality police,” Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders, and state media.
Despite calls from Germany and the Netherlands, the EU’s 27-nation bloc has so far refrained from designating the Revolutionary Guards as a terror organization.
Iran has warned the EU against taking such a step, and EU officials are concerned that it will derail efforts to restart the 2015 nuclear deal mediated by Brussels.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell insisted that a legal ruling in an EU member state be obtained first before the bloc could act.
“You cannot say, ‘I consider you a terrorist because I dislike you,'” said Borrell.
“It must be done when one member state’s court issues a legal statement, a concrete condemnation.”
Demonstrations
Demonstrations have swept Iran since the death in custody on September 16 of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, 22, following her arrest in Tehran for allegedly failing to follow the Islamic republic’s strict dress rules.
According to the UN, at least 14,000 people have been arrested in Iran as a result of the wave of protests.
Iranian authorities have executed four people and sentenced 18 others to death for their roles in the unrest, causing widespread international outrage.
France and Belgium’s foreign ministers urged the EU to address the issue of Iran’s detention of EU citizens, which is seen as “hostage-taking” by rights groups and families of those detained.
“I think it is time that we Europeans think about how to respond to this policy of state hostage-taking that Iran is now practicing,” French minister Catherine Colonna said.
“This must be taken into account in our thinking and in the decisions we will have to take in the future.”
Brussels is pushing for the release of Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, who was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison on “espionage” charges that UN experts have condemned.
France said last week that it is “extremely concerned” about the health of Bernard Phelan, a French-Irish citizen who has been detained in Iran since October.
In Iran, approximately two dozen foreigners and dual nationals are detained.
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