SULAIMANI (ESTA) — New sanctions from European Union will target Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), according to a German Minister on Monday.
“With this sanctions package, we are targeting, in particular, those who are responsible for the executions, the violence against innocent people,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
“These are especially the Revolutionary Guards but also those who – with forced videos – try to intimidate people or punish them,” she added.
Baerbock’s words came as she arrived for a meeting with her EU counterparts in Brussels.
In less than a week, Iranian authorities carried out dozens of fresh executions of anti-government protesters.
Nationwide protests, in their third month, erupted after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16 in the custody of morality police enforcing strict mandatory dress code laws.
The demonstrations have turned into a popular revolt by furious Iranians from all layers of society, posing one of the worst legitimacy challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution.
Amnesty International has said Iranian authorities are seeking the death penalty for at least 21 people in what it called “sham trials designed to intimidate those participating in the popular uprising that has rocked Iran”.
Moreover, separately, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said, “We’ve sanctioned those involved with the brutal suppression of protesters in Iran and we will continue to try and steer Iran into a better direction.”
