The European Union proposes to ban further exports of critical drone and missile technology to Iran, this was announced on Tuesday by the President of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, on the social network X. Together with the head of EU diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, in her own words are preparing new sanctions in response to the Iranian regime’s “continued and brutal crackdown on protesters.” TASR informs about this according to the AFP report and Leyen’s post on X.
“Europe stands in full solidarity with the brave women and men in Iran who are risking their lives to claim freedom for themselves and future generations,” wrote von der Leyen. “The EU has already imposed extensive sanctions on Iran for human rights violations, the proliferation of nuclear weapons and its support for Russia’s war against Ukraine,” the EC president continued and announced the mentioned proposal to ban the export of critical technologies.
Protests started in Iran on December 28, triggered by economic problems caused by a sharp drop in the Iranian rial currency and an increase in inflation. From Tehran, the demonstrations gradually spread throughout the country. Authorities there have restricted access to the internet and mobile networks in an attempt to limit the coordination of the protests and the availability of information about them to the outside world. The Internet in the Islamic Republic has been down for 11 days.
The protests are accompanied by violent interventions by the security forces, which, according to the Norwegian non-governmental organization Iran Human Rights (IHR), claimed 3,428 lives. On Thursday, Kallas presented the member states with a proposal for new sanctions against Iran. Their goal is to punish Tehran for its violent crackdown on protesters.
The ministers of foreign affairs of the EU countries will discuss the proposed sanctions at the next meeting on January 29 in Brussels. MEPs are dealing with the situation in Iran at Tuesday’s plenary session in Strasbourg. Subsequently, on Thursday, they will vote on the relevant resolution. So far, the EU has imposed sanctions on more than 230 Iranian citizens, including members of the government and parliament, and on more than 40 legal entities, the Euronews station reminds.
