BRUSSELS – The European Union will impose new sanctions on 37 Iranian officials and organizations over their crackdown on protests, but is still debating whether to list the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group, diplomats said on Friday.
The bloc’s foreign ministers are to agree to adopt a fourth package of sanctions on Tehran over its crackdown on protesters at an already scheduled meeting in Brussels on Monday.
Iran has been rocked by protests since the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, following her arrest in Tehran for allegedly failing to comply with the Islamic republic’s strict dress code.
Iran has arrested at least 14,000 people in the wave of protests, according to the United Nations.
Authorities have executed four people and sentenced a total of 18 people to death for their roles in the unrest, sparking widespread international outrage.
The European Union has already imposed asset freezes and visa sanctions on more than 60 Iranian officials and entities for their crackdown on protesters, including targeting Tehran’s “morality police”, Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders and state media.
But the 27-nation European Union has so far held off on blacklisting the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group, despite calls from Germany and other member states to take action.
In this September 22, 2014 photo, members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard march during an annual military parade at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, outside Tehran, Iran (AP Photo/Ibrahim Norouzi, File)
Iran has warned the bloc against the move and EU officials are wary that it could derail stalled efforts to revive a 2015 accord on Tehran’s nuclear program brokered by Brussels.
“I think it’s not a good idea because it prevents you from moving forward on other issues,” said a senior EU official.
