THE EU AND Britain have hit more than 30 senior Iranian officials and organisations with sanctions over the crackdown on protesters that has left hundreds of people dead and thousands injured.

The US government, for its part, strongly praised the European actions and declared: “The eyes of the world are on Iran.”

The EU sanctions targeted Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi and the head of Iran’s ground forces Kiyumars Heidari among those it said were responsible for the repression of demonstrations after the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died in custody or Iran’s “morality” police in September.

Four members of the squad who detained Amini were also put on the blacklist.

Among the organisations hit was state broadcaster Press TV, which was accused of airing “forced confessions of detainees”.

“The EU strongly condemns the unacceptable violent crackdown of protesters,” EU chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.

“We stand with the Iranian people and support their right to protest peacefully and voice their demands and views freely.”

Tehran has warned of a “proportionate and firm” response to the EU over the expanded sanctions.

Last month the EU hit Iran’s “morality” police, Revolutionary Guard and IT minister in a first wave of sanctions over the crackdown.

Britain in coordination with the EU action targeted officials involved in shutting down Iran’s internet in the wake of mass protests that began 16 September after Amini’s death.

It sanctioned Iranian communication minister Issa Zarepour and the chief of Iran’s cyber police, Vahid Mohammad Naser Majid, as well as 22 other security officials, mostly from eastern Sistan and Baluchestan province and the Kurdistan region bordering Iraq to the west.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan slammed the “mass arrests, sham trials, and now a death sentence for protesters voicing legitimate demands” for freedom.

Abuses by Iran “must not go unpunished,” Sullivan said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Court did not name the protester sentenced to death over the weekend. State media said the person was guilty of “enmity against God”.

An Oslo-based watchdog group, Iran Human Rights, said 20 protesters currently face charges in Iran that are punishable by death.

The EU ministers meeting in Brussels also signed off on adding the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Hossein Salami to a blacklist over supplies of Iranian drones to Russia for use in Ukraine.

The bloc in addition included the head of the Guard’s airforce Amir Ali Hajizadeh and the Qods drone maker.

The EU last month already slapped asset freezes and visa bans on another Iranian drone maker and three top military officials over deliveries of kamikaze drones used to strike Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

A senior EU official said the bloc was probing reports over the possible delivery of ballistic missiles by Iran to Russia and would sanction Tehran further if it sent the arms.

Borrell said so far that Brussels had “no evidence” over the supplies of ballistic missiles.

Brussels has faced a tricky balancing act over its response to Tehran as the EU is mediating a push to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Those efforts to get Iran and the United States back onboard with the agreement have largely stalled.

“It is not in a good track, you know, stalemate, but the work continues,” Borrell said.

© – AFP 2022