Germany: EU Seeking to Adopt New Iran Sanctions

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. AFP
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. AFP
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Germany: EU Seeking to Adopt New Iran Sanctions

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. AFP
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. AFP

The European Union will seek to adopt new sanctions against Iran next week over Tehran's deadly crackdown on protests, Germany's foreign minister said Wednesday.

"We are working flat out on the next package of sanctions," Annalena Baerbock said on Twitter. "We want to adopt it next week."

"We won't let up," she added. "We stand with the men and women of Iran, not only today, but as long as it is necessary."

EU foreign ministers are due to meet in Brussels on Monday.

The bloc had already imposed sanctions in mid-October against Iran's "morality police" and 11 officials including the telecommunications minister.

Iran has been rocked by demonstrations over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin, following her arrest in Tehran for allegedly flouting the country's strict hijab dress rules for women.

The crackdown on nationwide protests since her death has killed at least 304 people, including 41 children and 24 women, says the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR).

Meanwhile, the German parliament adopted on Wednesday recommendations made by the three ruling parties, urging the German government to intensify pressure on the Iranian regime over its brutal repression of demonstrators.

The recommendations included a call on the government to close the “Hamburg Islamic Center” classified in Germany as an arm of Iran and as directly receiving instructions from the regime in Tehran.



Russia Cancels Tsunami Warning for Kamchatka After Quake, Dormant Volcano Erupts

 A view of the sea during a coastal evacuation following a tsunami warning issued by local authorities after an earthquake struck the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s Far East, triggering alerts and evacuations across the South Pacific, in Lirquen near Concepcion, Chile, July 30, 2025. (Reuters)
A view of the sea during a coastal evacuation following a tsunami warning issued by local authorities after an earthquake struck the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s Far East, triggering alerts and evacuations across the South Pacific, in Lirquen near Concepcion, Chile, July 30, 2025. (Reuters)
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Russia Cancels Tsunami Warning for Kamchatka After Quake, Dormant Volcano Erupts

 A view of the sea during a coastal evacuation following a tsunami warning issued by local authorities after an earthquake struck the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s Far East, triggering alerts and evacuations across the South Pacific, in Lirquen near Concepcion, Chile, July 30, 2025. (Reuters)
A view of the sea during a coastal evacuation following a tsunami warning issued by local authorities after an earthquake struck the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s Far East, triggering alerts and evacuations across the South Pacific, in Lirquen near Concepcion, Chile, July 30, 2025. (Reuters)

Russia's Ministry for Emergency Services lifted a tsunami warning for the Kamchatka Peninsula on Sunday after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. 

The ministry had said earlier on the Telegram messaging app that expected wave heights were low, but warned people to move away from the shore. 

The Pacific Tsunami Warning System, which gauged the quake at 7.0, said, however, there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The US Geological Survey also said the earthquake was at a magnitude of 7. 

Overnight, the Krasheninnikov Volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia's RIA state news agency and scientists reported on Sunday. 

Both incidents could be connected to the huge earthquake that rocked Russia's Far East last week, that triggered tsunami warnings as far away as French Polynesia and Chile, and was followed by an eruption of Klyuchevskoy, the most active volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula. 

The Kuril Islands stretch from the southern tip of Kamchatka Peninsula. Russian scientists had warned on Wednesday that strong aftershocks were possible in the region in the next several weeks. 

"This is the first historically confirmed eruption of Krasheninnikov Volcano in 600 years," RIA cited Olga Girina, head of the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team, as saying. 

On the Telegram channel of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Girina said that Krasheninnikov's last lava effusion took place within 40 years of 1463 and no eruption has been known since. 

The Kamchatka branch of Russia's ministry for emergency services said that an ash plume rising up to 6,000 meters (3.7 miles) has been recorded following the volcano's eruption. The volcano itself stands at 1,856 meters. 

"The ash cloud has drifted eastward, toward the Pacific Ocean. There are no populated areas along its path," the ministry said on Telegram. 

The eruption of the volcano has been assigned an orange aviation code, indicating a heightened risk to aircraft, the ministry said.