The EU will sanction senior IRGC members over Iran’s protest crackdown and drone supplies to Russia, with Italy backing calls to label the group terrorists.
BRUSSELS: The European Union is set to impose sanctions on senior members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps over a recent deadly crackdown on mass protests.
Diplomats said the 27-nation bloc will announce asset freezes and visa bans on 21 individuals and entities, including high-ranking IRGC members, when foreign ministers meet on Thursday.
Ambassadors from EU member states are due to greenlight the decision on Wednesday ahead of its formal adoption.
They are also expected to agree to sanction 10 more individuals and entities over Iranian drone and missile supplies to Russia for use in Ukraine.
The new sanctions come as calls grow for the EU to formally list the IRGC as a “terrorist organisation”, with Italy throwing its weight behind the push.
The bloc has already sanctioned several hundred Iranian officials and entities, including the IRGC as a whole and senior commanders, over previous crackdowns and Tehran’s support for Russia’s war.
A US-based rights group said it had confirmed the deaths of over 6,000 people in protests suppressed by security forces.
It added it was investigating over 17,000 more potential deaths and warned a wave of arrests was ongoing.
The protests started in late December sparked by economic grievances but turned into a mass movement against the Islamic republic.
Huge street rallies on January 8 and 9 were the biggest in recent years.
Iranian authorities last week said 3,117 people were killed, claiming the majority were security forces and innocent bystanders killed by “rioters”.
