EU adopts new sanctions against Iran, says Swedish EU Presidency News
12019 / Pixabay
EU adopts new sanctions against Iran, says Swedish EU Presidency

European Union ministers agreed Monday on a new set of sanctions against Iran during this month’s EU Foreign Affairs Council, said the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU in an online statement. The sanctions follow a call by the European Parliament to add the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other Iranian officials to the EU terrorist list, as protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini continue.

Chaired by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrel, the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels began Monday. Ministers exchanged views regarding Russian aggression against Ukraine and current affairs in Iran, among other international developments.

In a statement on Twitter, the Swedish EU Presidency stated that new sanctions against Iran were agreed upon in order to target “those driving the repression” in the country. “The EU strongly condemns the brutal and disproportionate use of force by Iranian authorities against peaceful protestors,” they added.

European officials have previously urged the EU to introduce severe sanctions against Iran following the death sentences, public executions, and arrests of peaceful demonstrators participating in the Masha Amini protests. Such demonstrations have continued since Amini’s arrest and subsequent death in September. Norway-based human rights organisation Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) put the death toll at a minimum of 476 at the end of December 2022.

Speaking to the press prior to the meeting, Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Tobias Billstrom commented “I would like to emphasise that we of course support, fully, the demonstrations in Iran. We believe that peaceful demonstrations have a right to [be] performed.”

THIS DAY @ LAW

Pope Urban II sparks First Crusade

Pope Urban II threw his support behind what would become the First Crusade on November 27, 1095 during the Council of Clairmont. The Pope urged the council's participants to render aid to the Byzantine Empire, which was being attacked by the Seljuks. Pope Urban called for a wide coalition of rich and poor to combat the threat, which eventually resulted in the conquest of much of the Muslim-controlled Levant by the Crusaders and the establishment of the Crusader States. Read Pope Urban's address.  

Catholic Code of Canon Law revised

On November 27, 1983, the revised Code of Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church went into effect. Learn more about the history of Canon Law from Professor Kenneth Pennington of the Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law.

Alfred Nobel creates Nobel Prize in his will

On November 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his will, creating the Nobel Prize. Learn more about the history of the Nobel Prize and the Nobel Commission.