Iran blacklists more European officials as tensions rise

Tehran, Iran – Tehran has introduced more sanctions on European officials and entities for “supporting terrorism” and “fomenting unrest” in Iran.

Its Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday blacklisted three entities and 22 individuals from the European Union in addition to one entity and eight officials from the United Kingdom.

Within the EU, it targeted Radio J, a Paris-based Jewish community radio station; the European Friends of Israel within the European Parliament; and the Heberger construction company for “participation in construction of factory equipment” allegedly used for creating chemical weapons deployed in the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s.

It also blacklisted several members of the European Parliament, city officials, police and military commanders, and three executives of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which recently published a string of caricatures mocking Iranian leaders.

Two Dutch far-right political leaders, Rasmus Paludan and Edwin Wagensveld, were sanctioned for “insulting the holy Quran“.

In the United Kingdom, Tehran blacklisted the Henry Jackson Society think tank in addition to the prosecutor general, several senior current and former military and intelligence officials, and a prisons authority chief.

The new measures are similar to several rounds of previous sanctions announced by Tehran, the latest of which came last month. They include entry bans into Iran and confiscation of any assets the targets may possess in the country.

The measures were announced two days after the EU and UK hit dozens of Iranian officials and entities with sanctions.

The EU, however, has said moving forward with a proposal to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp as a “terrorist” organisation faces legal challenges.

Tehran has harshly condemned the proposal, which was one of several that were overwhelmingly ratified in a resolution by the European Parliament last week.