EU broadens Iran sanctions regime in response to brutal crackdown

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EU foreign ministers blacklisted more Iranian officials and companies yesterday in reaction to the brutal crackdown on protesters and hinted at more restrictions down the line. We will explore why Germany’s push to list Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation is unlikely to make the cut for the foreseeable future.

With defence ministers meeting in Brussels today to discuss assistance to Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell yesterday pointed out that when adding up individual member states’ contributions, the EU has given €8bn in military assistance to Ukraine so far, nearly half as much as the US. “It is not negligible,” he said.

The head of the CIA met his Russian counterpart for the first time since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. His message for Moscow: Keep your hands off the nuclear launch button.

And with the Covid-19 pandemic seemingly a distant memory, we will look at another blast from the past plaguing Europe’s poultry industry: bird flu.

Legal quagmire

EU foreign ministers yesterday agreed to expand Iran’s sanctions regime in an attempt to target officials involved in the death of Mahsa Amini and the brutal crackdown on mostly female protesters. But Germany’s push for listing the entire Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation is for now bogged down in legal complications, write Andy Bounds and Valentina Pop in Brussels.

The sanctions were broadened to 29 individuals, including the interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi, the head of the armed forces and members of the Revolutionary Guard. Three entities, including the state broadcaster, were also added to the list for their role in the production and broadcast of “forced confessions of detainees”.

The measures imposed consist of a travel ban and an asset freeze. In addition, EU citizens and companies are forbidden from making funds available to the listed individuals and entities.

“We salute the bravery of Iranian women who continue demanding basic respect for their human rights,” Borrell said at a news conference after the meeting. He promised “further steps if needed”. 

He also said that Iran should stop providing arms to Russia, including the drones that have been “used to commit atrocities”. 

Borrell shot down the idea floated in recent weeks by Germany that the EU could follow in the footsteps of the Trump administration and designate the entire Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation.

Speaking on her way into the meeting, Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said the Revolutionary Guard was responsible for the crackdown and that “we also have to look at the question of terrorism”. But she admitted that there were considerable legal complexities to such a step.

Borrell explained that adding organisations to the EU terror list is a decision taken by unanimity among the 27 member states and requires a court decision in a member state. “You cannot say tomorrow, in the morning, ah, you are a terrorist organisation. No. Things require legal procedures.”

He noted that the Revolutionary Guard is already listed as part of existing sanctions under Iran’s weapons of mass destruction regime and under the bloc’s latest listings for human rights violations.

There are now 126 individuals and 11 entities in Iran subject to EU restrictive measures because of human-rights violations.

Chart du jour: Ukraine gains

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the liberated city of Kherson yesterday, highlighting the role of western weaponry, particularly US-made Himar advanced rocket systems, in the counteroffensive.

Avian flu alert

Christmas is coming . . . but turkey and chicken farms across Europe are being forced to cull their flocks because of a widespread outbreak of avian flu, writes Jude Webber in Dublin.

The virus has been found in 37 countries, from Norway’s Svalbard Islands to Portugal to Ukraine, according to the European Centre for Disease Control, which has labelled it the “largest avian flu epidemic in Europe ever”.

In Ireland, confirmation of the disease in County Monaghan, one of Ireland’s two main poultry production areas, has led to the culling of all 3,000 turkeys at one farm and the imposition of a protection and surveillance zone of up to 10km radius around it.

Similar restrictions have been put in place across the Irish border in parts of County Fermanagh to stop the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus from devastating Northern Ireland’s £325mn poultry output.

Avian flu has already cost Ireland’s poultry industry two important markets — China and South Africa, according to the Irish Farmers Association. Nigel Sweetnam, chair of the association’s poultry committee, called the outbreak a “daily nightmare” for farmers “on top of the whole financial worries” including higher costs. Ireland produces around 1.5mn turkeys a year, half of which are for the Christmas period.

Sweetnam told RTÉ radio that experience in the UK showed that even measures like changing shoes and showering to stop transmission of the virus “aren’t working”. 

The UK accounts for nearly 60 per cent of Ireland’s €128mn poultry exports and the virus is already raging in Great Britain, forcing similar extermination measures as in the EU.

What to watch today

1. EU defence ministers meet in Brussels to discuss assistance to Ukraine

2. Two-day G20 summit starts in Bali

Notable, Quotable

The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible. The peaceful resolution of conflicts, efforts to address crises, as well as diplomacy and dialogue, are vital. Today’s era must not be of war.

• G20: World leaders will state that today’s era “must not be of war” at the G20 summit in Bali, according to a draft communiqué agreed by diplomats that also condemned threats of nuclear weapons use.​

• Biden efforts: A senior official in the Biden administration has cited talks with the Netherlands and Japan as part of Washington’s strategy to make it much harder for China to develop advanced semiconductors needed for military purposes.

• Blaming Kurds: Turkey blamed Kurdish militants for the bombing that killed six people and wounded dozens of others in central Istanbul on Sunday, and likened the US to a “murderer” for its support of Kurdish rebels in Syria.