Iran has imposed new sanctions on individuals and entities in the European Union and the United Kingdom in response to their human rights sanctions and comments on the country’s ongoing protests.
The Iranian foreign ministry on Monday announced sanctions on nine entities and 23 individuals, including media institutions, a military base, and current and former politicians.
Falling under the purview of the EU, Tehran extended its targeting of foreign-based media organisations by blacklisting Radio Farda, the Iran-focused branch of the United States government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, in addition to Amsterdam-based Radio Zamaneh and French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Two German companies, Water Engineering Trading GmbH and Gidlemeister Projekta GmbH, were blacklisted because they “participated in manufacturing” chemical weapons used by Saddam Hussein during the eight-year Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s.
The EU-related sanctions on individuals were mostly focused on German politicians, targeting several former lawmakers, in addition to Bernard Kouchner, an influential French politician and doctor and co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
On the UK side, Iran blacklisted the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and targeted several current members of parliament in addition to Geoffrey Bindman, the chair of the British Institute of Human Rights.
