On Monday 22 April, the foreign affairs ministers gave the go-ahead for sanctions against the production and export of Iranian drones and missiles. In concrete terms, the EU will be working to extend the scope of the sanctions regime relating to Iranian drones destined for Russia to include missiles and to add shipments to proxies in the Middle East.
“We have reached a political agreement in order to enlarge and expand” the existing regime covering the shipment of Iranian drones to Russia “to cover missiles and their potential transfer to Russia” and the delivery of drones and missiles “to the Middle East and the Red Sea” and to expand the list of “prohibited” drone and missile components, announced the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, at the end of the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg.
“In recent months, Iran has shown that it supports many other proxies with its ballistic missiles. So anything we can do to limit and halt the production of ballistic missiles and drones is essential. This not only concerns the Middle East, but is also important for Russia”, explained the Dutch minister, Hanke Bruins Slot.
Her Irish counterpart, Micheál Martin, highlighted Iran’s “shadow war”, with its aid to Hamas and Hezbollah, while the Lithuanian Gabrielius Landsbergis said he was in favour of “restricting the military industry of a country that is fighting on two fronts”.
Several ministers have once again mentioned the possibility of including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the list of terrorist organisations. Although a Hanover court ruled in March that an arson attack on a German synagogue had been ordered by the Iranian state, according to a European source, an analysis of the German decision by the EU Council’s legal services provides no evidence that the IRGC were involved. “To put them on the list, a decision must be taken at the relevant national level and it must be in line with EU regulations on terrorism and the prescribed criteria”, explained this source.
Regardless of whether or not they can be sanctioned, the Austrian minister, Alexander Schallenberg, pointed out that the IRGC is already sanctioned under several European regimes. “This is in fact a symbolic act, because in reality the Revolutionary Guards are already de facto under sanctions. We simply haven’t declared them a ‘terrorist organisation' yet, but I think that if this measure is possible, we should consider it”, he explained.
No progress in the revision of the association agreement with Israel
Furthermore, when asked about the request by Ireland and Spain to examine the association agreement with Israel regarding a possible violation of the terms of the agreement - in relation to compliance with international humanitarian law - Mr Borrell said that, in his opinion, the Commission had not replied to the two countries. “To my knowledge, nothing has happened on the Commission’s side. For my part, I called for a policy debate, and proposed convening a meeting of the Association Council to discuss the situation with our Israeli partners. This proposal was rejected”, he explained. He announced that the ministers had agreed to invite Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, and the new Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammad Mustafa, to the next Foreign Affairs Council, scheduled for 27 May.
Micheál Martin stated that, while he had “anticipated significant resistance” from some Member States, he was not satisfied that the issue was not receiving the attention it required. He also explained that it was still necessary to determine “the modus operandi for carrying out the examination”. “The situation in Gaza is totally unacceptable from a humanitarian point of view”, he stressed, saying that Israel had violated humanitarian law in Gaza.
Humanitarian aid
On Monday, Mr Borrell deplored the fact that there had been no improvement in the humanitarian situation in Gaza. However, he said that “most” of the donors to UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, had resumed their financial contributions.
With a ground assault by the Israeli army on Rafah imminent, several European foreign ministers have reiterated their call for humanitarian aid crossings into Gaza to be opened.
“We call for all land points to be opened immediately to allow access for humanitarian aid. The civilian population of Gaza can no longer wait for access to such essential things as food, medicine and drinking water”, said the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares.
Rafah is the main crossing point for humanitarian aid arriving from Egypt to the south of the Gaza Strip, where almost 1.5 million Palestinians are crammed together in precarious conditions. AFP has reported several air strikes on the town in recent days.
The delivery of aid through northern Gaza is limited. Only 20 humanitarian trucks have entered the north of the Palestinian enclave, according to the Israeli authorities’ figures for Sunday 21 April. Israel has also recorded 85 airdrops of aid since the start of the war.
As far as maritime access is concerned, the corridor initiated by Cyprus and supported by the EU is at a standstill. The Spanish NGO ‘Open Arms’, which had mobilised two of its ships at the end of March, ended its mission after the deaths of seven humanitarian workers killed by the Israeli army (see EUROPE 13382/3). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Bernard Denuit)