Iranian diplomat condemns EU Council’s latest sanctions on Iranians

Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the European Council’s “illegal and destructive” decision to impose new sanctions on several Iranian citizens.

In a statement released late on July 16, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei rejected the accusations made against Iran at the European Union Council meeting, Caliber.Az reports, citing an Iranian news outlet.

He also condemned the new sanctions imposed by the EU Council on several Iranians as an illegal, destructive, and unjustified measure.

The spokesperson denounced the “ridiculous and baseless” allegations against Iran regarding support for terrorist activities in Europe.

Baghaei criticised the persistence of some EU governments in making false accusations against Iran, calling it a brazen attempt to shift blame and distract public attention from their own systematic support for "terrorism and the crimes of the Israeli regime" in the Gaza Strip and the West Asia region.

“The European Union and a number of its member states are criticising and sanctioning Iran on bogus claims while they have remained silent on the Zionist regime’s military aggression against Iran and the massacre of Iranian citizens and have even tried to justify and support it,” the spokesperson said.

Baghaei denounced the EU Council’s decision to impose sanctions on Iranian citizens based on false accusations without credible evidence, calling it an arbitrary step violating fundamental human rights principles.

On July 15, the European Council imposed sanctions on eight Iranian individuals and one entity accused of transnational repression and serious human rights violations. Among those targeted was the Zindashti Network, linked to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence, along with its leader Naji Ibrahim Sharifi‑Zindashti, and Mohammed Ansari, head of the IRGC Quds Force Unit 840.

These sanctions were precisely aimed at suppressing Iran’s extrajudicial arrests and assassinations of dissidents abroad, and include travel bans and asset freezes.

By Khagan Isayev