The General Affairs Council adopted, without debate, on Tuesday 8 January, sanctions against two Iranian individuals and one Iranian entity linked to attempted attacks in Europe.
According to a diplomatic source, these are the same individuals and entity sanctioned nationally by France for their participation in the attempted attack on Villepinte last August: Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi, Saeid Hashemi Moghadam and the Internal Security Directorate of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence.
The adoption of these European sanctions follows the decision of Foreign Ministers on 19 November to launch aimed at sanctioning Iranian officials responsible for attempted attacks in the European Union (see EUROPE 12140). The legal acts will be published, according to this source, on Wednesday in the Official Journal of the EU.
In a tweet, Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen, whose country foiled an attempted attack, welcomed the adoption. This is “an important day for European foreign policy!” The EU had just agreed to adopt sanctions against an Iranian intelligence service for its assassination plots on European soil. “A strong signal from the EU that we will not accept such behaviour in Europe”, he said.
Nuclear agreement: Iran disappointed by EU's lack of action
In addition, in an interview broadcast on Euronews in the evening of 8 January, the First Vice-President of Iran, Eshaq Jahangiri, reviewed the implementation of the Iranian nuclear agreement. While the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, had hoped to have the ‘special purpose vehicle’ in place by the end of 2018, it is still not functional and the High Representative's spokesperson said that the work done by Member States “continues and progresses well”. “We believe it will be established in the coming weeks”, she added.
“We are still waiting for [France, Germany and the United Kingdom] to take concrete steps to implement this agreement in the interest of our people and of our economy”, said the First Vice-President.
Asked about the EU's willingness or ability to oppose the US President, who reintroduced sanctions against Iran, he said that his country had “assumed that the EU had such a capability”. “Theoretically, and in terms of its approach, it’s done well so far. However, when it comes to practice, the EU financial structure and, in particular, the EU banking system has revealed that this Union isn’t capable of standing up for itself as an independent decision-maker... a powerful entity that can conserve what it has achieved and fulfil its commitments. However, we’re still hopeful it will keep its end of the deal”, he explained.
He stressed the EU's lack of efficiency. “Although we have been largely disappointed with the EU’s efficiency in taking concrete measures, there is still hope that the EU could do something so that we can reap the benefits of the Action Plan”, Jahangiri added, warning that his government was under massive internal pressure from “those who believe all along the EU would not fulfill its commitments and is not to be trusted”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)