Trade restrictions planned
EU announces new sanctions against Iran
April 16, 2024, 8:47 p.m
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The European states have to carry out the balancing act: on the one hand, the nuclear agreement with Iran should be saved, on the other hand, the attack on Israel cannot remain without consequences. The EU foreign ministers agree on new sanctions. The aim is to make it more difficult to build rockets and drones.
Iran faces new EU sanctions after its missile and drone attack on Israel. EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell announced after a video link from the foreign ministers of the member states that he would ask his team to prepare for further punitive measures. Among other things, trade restrictions are to be expanded to make it more difficult for Iran to build missiles. It is also planned to target the delivery of drones and missiles to allies in the region.
For both measures, a sanctions regime is to be expanded that was set up after Iran began supporting the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine with the delivery of drones. So far, among other things, it has banned the export of components to Iran that are used for the construction and production of unmanned aircraft. In addition, people and organizations are also affected by punitive measures.
According to diplomats, Borrell himself was initially cautious about the issue of new sanctions. One reason is seen as efforts to persuade Iran to stick to an agreement to restrict its nuclear program. This is intended to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb.
Iran attacked Israel with drones and missiles on Sunday night, but these were almost completely intercepted. Iran’s attack was in response to a suspected Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus, in which two generals from the influential Revolutionary Guard were killed.
After the foreign ministers’ video conference, Borrell also said that they agreed that further escalation must be prevented. We therefore call on everyone involved to exercise restraint. European State Secretary Anna Lührmann attended the EU desk on behalf of the federal government. She represented Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who is traveling to Israel at short notice.