EU sanctions Iran interior minister, senior officials over protest crackdown

The EU on Thursday imposed sanctions on Iran's interior minister, prosecutor general and regional Revolutionary Guard commanders over a deadly crackdown on mass protests.

The 27-nation bloc in total added 15 officials and six entities to its asset freeze and visa ban blacklist, according to the EU's official journal.

These include Iran's Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni and Prosecutor General Mohammad Movahedi Azad, and Iman Afshari, a presiding judge.

"They were all involved in the violent repression of peaceful protests and the arbitrary arrest of political activists and human rights defenders," the Council of the European Union said in a statement.

The adoption of the sanctions comes as EU foreign ministers separately to agreed to add Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the bloc's list of "terrorist" organisations.

"Repression cannot go unanswered," foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote on X. "Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise."

Kallas, responding to a question around reports that US President Donald Trump is weighing targeted strikes against Iran, said: "When it comes to attacks, then I think the region does not need a new war."

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen posted online after foreign ministers from the bloc took the decision, saying, "this was long overdue."

"'Terrorist' is indeed how you call a regime that crushes its own people's protests in blood."

In response, Tehran's foreign minister Abbaras Araghchi slammed the decision, saying: "several countries are presently attempting to avert the eruption of all-out war in our region. Europe is instead busy fanning the flames."

"After pursuing 'snapback' at the behest of the US, it is now making another major strategic mistake by designating our National Military as a supposed 'terrorist organisation'," he added.

A statement from the General Staff of the Armed Forces, carried by the official IRNA news agency, said: "The illogical, irresponsible and spite-driven action of the European Union has undoubtedly been taken in unquestioning obedience to the hegemonic and anti-human policies of the United States and the Zionist (Israeli) regime."