Among the persons included in, the latest package of sanctions are representatives of the government and the Iranian parliament (Majles), important political and media figures, as well as high-ranking members of the Iranian security forces, including of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

‘’The nuclear agreement (with Iran) is in standby. It is not dead but it doesn’t move,’’  said Josep Borrell .

The European Union adopted Monday additional sanctions against Iran’s authorities by adding 18 individuals and 19 entities to the list of those subject to restrictive measures for their role in the widespread and disproportionate use of force against non-violent protestors following the death of Mahsa Amini.

The sanctions, decided at a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels, are the fourth package of sanctions adopted by the EU in the context of the existing Iran human rights sanctions regime.

However, EU’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said that Iran’s Islamic  Revolutionary Guards  Corps (IRGC) cannot be listed as a terrorist group without a court decision.

The European Parliament last week called on the EU to go further on sanctions against Iran and list the IRGC as a terrorist entity, blaming it for the clampdown on protests now into their fourth month and the supply of drones for Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Among the persons included in, the latest package of sanctions are representatives of the government and the Iranian parliament (Majles), important political and media figures, as well as high-ranking members of the Iranian security forces, including of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Restrictive measures now apply to a total of 164 individuals and 31 entities. They consist of an asset freeze, a travel ban to the EU, and a prohibition to make funds or economic resources available to those listed. A ban on exports to Iran of equipment, which might be used for internal repression, and of equipment for monitoring telecommunications, is also in place.

‘’The European Union and its member states urge the Iranian authorities to stop the violent crackdown against peaceful protests, cease their resort to arbitrary detentions as a means of silencing critical voices, and release all those illegally detained,’’ says a statement following Monday’s meeting.

It adds : ‘’The EU continues to call on Iran to cease immediately the imposition and execution of death sentences against protesters, reverse the death penalty sentences pronounced, and provide due process to all detainees.’’

“The EU strongly condemns the brutal and disproportionate use of force by the Iranian authorities against peaceful protesters,” said Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom, whose country currently chairs the Foreign Affairs Council.

Asked by a journalist about the possibility of a revival of the nuclear agreement with Iran, Borrell said that that the répression of protesters, the arrest of dual citizens in Iran and the selling of drones to Russia, ‘’makes it difficult to have such an agreement.’’

‘’The nuclear agreement is in standby. It is not dead but it doesn’t move,’’ he said.