EU Foreign Ministers Agree to Expand Iran Sanctions

A general view shows the Milad Telecommunications Tower in Iran's capital Tehran on April 19, 2024. (AFP)
A general view shows the Milad Telecommunications Tower in Iran's capital Tehran on April 19, 2024. (AFP)
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EU Foreign Ministers Agree to Expand Iran Sanctions

A general view shows the Milad Telecommunications Tower in Iran's capital Tehran on April 19, 2024. (AFP)
A general view shows the Milad Telecommunications Tower in Iran's capital Tehran on April 19, 2024. (AFP)

EU foreign ministers agreed in principle on Monday to expand sanctions on Iran following Tehran's missile and drone attack on Israel, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

The European Union already has multiple sanctions programs against Iran, for the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, human rights abuses and supplying drones to Russia.

But several EU countries had called for widening the drone-related sanctions regime to cover missiles and transfers to proxy forces.

"We have reached a political agreement in order to enlarge and expand the existing drone (sanctions) regime in order to cover missiles and their potential ... transfer to Russia," Borrell told reporters after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

The sanctions would also be expanded beyond Russia to cover drone and missile deliveries not only to Russia but also to proxies in the region, he said.

More work will need to follow to approve a legal framework before the expansion of the sanctions can take effect.



Iran Police Commander Dismissed After Death in Custody

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
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Iran Police Commander Dismissed After Death in Custody

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)

Iran's police force has dismissed the commander of a city in the northern province of Gilan after the death in custody of a detainee, state media said on Saturday.

Mohammad Mir Mousavi, 36, was arrested on July 22 after being involved in a fight in Lahijan, police said in a statement carried by the official news agency IRNA.

"The police commander... was dismissed due to insufficient oversight of the conduct and behaviour of staff," the police said, AFP reported.

"Due to the complexity of the matter, the final conclusion on the cause of Mohammad Mir Mousavi's death depends on the medical examiner's final report.

The police said the station commander and several officers involved in the incident had been suspended.

"The behaviour of some law enforcement officers was against the professional policy of the police and that is not acceptable in any way, so they were referred to the judicial authority," the statement added.

The Norway-based Kurdish human rights organization, Hengaw, on Wednesday said Mir Mousavi "was killed under torture in the detention center".

On Thursday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered an investigation into the case.

Dismissals of members of the security forces are rare in Iran.

In 2022, the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who had been arrested in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women, sparked months of deadly nationwide protests.