BRUSSELS
\nThe European Union (EU) on Monday introduced new sanctions against Iran for a \u201cbrutal\u201d crackdown on protests, but the bloc\u2019s top diplomat said the country\u2019s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) cannot be listed as a terrorist group without a court decision.
\nRelations between the 27-nation EU and Tehran have deteriorated during stalled efforts to revive talks on its nuclear programme, worsening further as Iran has moved to detain several European nationals.
\nSweden, which currently holds the EU\u2019s rotating presidency, said the bloc\u2019s foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday \u201cadopted a new package of sanctions against Iran, targeting those driving the repression.\u201d
\n\u201cThe EU strongly condemns the brutal and disproportionate use of force by the Iranian authorities against peaceful protesters,\u201d said Sweden\u2019s Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom, according to a Twitter post by the country\u2019s EU diplomatic mission.
\nEU diplomats told Reuters last week the bloc was set to add 37 names to a blacklist of Iranian people and entities banned from travelling to Europe and subject to an asset freeze.
\nThe European Parliament has called on the EU to go further and list the IRGC as a terrorist entity, blaming it for the clampdown on protests now into their fourth month and the supply of drones for Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine.
\nThe IRGC was set up shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Shi\u2019ite clerical ruling system. It has an estimated 125,000-strong military with army, navy and air units, and commands the Basij religious militia often used in crackdowns.
\n\u201cThe Iranian regime, the Revolutionary Guards terrorise their own population day after day,\u201d German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told Monday\u2019s meeting.
\nBut the EU\u2019s top diplomat said a court ruling with a concrete legal condemnation had to first be handed down in a member country before the EU itself could apply any such designation.
\n\u201cIt is something that cannot be decided without a court… decision first. You cannot say I consider you a terrorist because I don\u2019t like you,\u201d Josep Borrell told reporters on the sidelines of the Brussels talks.
\nThe ministers were meeting in the EU political hub where thousands took to the streets a day before to protest against the detention in Iran of Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele.
\nIran earlier warned the EU against designating the IRGC as a terrorist entity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BRUSSELS The European Union (EU) on Monday introduced new sanctions against Iran for a \u201cbrutal\u201d crackdown on protests, but the bloc\u2019s top diplomat said the country\u2019s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) cannot be listed as a terrorist group without a court decision. Relations between the 27-nation EU and Tehran have deteriorated during stalled efforts to revive talks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205131,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3501],"class_list":["post-309239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-european-union"],"yoast_head":"\n