Europe Punishes 17 Iranian Officials Including the Interior Minister and the Attorney General

SadaNews - During a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, the Union approved sanctions against Iranian officials including the Interior Minister, Iskandar Mo’meni, in response to the crackdown on protests.

The EU ministers also imposed sanctions on Attorney General Mohammad Mohaidi Azad, as well as 15 other officials and six entities, including Seyed Majid Fayz Jafari, a commander in the Revolutionary Guards, Eman Afshari, President of the Revolutionary Court, and Ali Abdollahi, Chief of Staff of the Quds Force, according to a list published in the official journal of the continental bloc.

The sanctions include freezing assets and travel bans on the mentioned officials.

Earlier today, the EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, announced that she expects additional sanctions against "those who commit violence against protesters in Iran" and to list the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.

It is also expected that European ministers will reach a political agreement to list the Revolutionary Guard in the EU's list of terrorist organizations, placing it in the same category as ISIS and al-Qaeda, representing a symbolic shift in Europe's approach towards the Iranian leadership.

Several European countries announced their support for including the Revolutionary Guard in the "EU list of terrorist organizations" in recent days, notably France and Italy.

These steps come as human rights organizations accuse the Revolutionary Guard of being behind the recent crackdown on protests in Iran, which resulted in the deaths of thousands.

It is worth mentioning that Iran has witnessed widespread protests since December 28 of last year, which started from the Tehran Bazaar in the capital before spreading to several areas and shifting from economic demands to political ones.

Meanwhile, Iranian authorities accused Israel and America of intervening and attempting to destabilize the country. They also accused "terrorist elements" of infiltrating among the protesters and firing bullets to increase the death toll.