"On 12 April 2018, the Council extended until 13 April 2019 its restrictive measures responding to serious human rights violations in Iran," the statement read.
According to the council, the sanctions include a travel ban and an asset freeze against 82 people and one entity and "a ban on exports to Iran of equipment which might be used for internal repression and of equipment for monitoring telecommunications."
READ MORE: US Renews Sanctions Waiver for Iran Under Nuclear Deal Despite Trump's Criticism
These sanctions were first imposed by the European Union in 2011 due to what it described as "dramatic increase in executions… and the systematic repression of Iranian citizens."
Iran Nuclear Deal
The 2015 JCPOA, nuclear agreement, signed between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries — the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom plus Germany — stipulates the gradual lifting of the economic and diplomatic sanctions imposed on Iran in exchange the peaceful nature of the country's nuclear program.
READ MORE: Bone of Contention: Why EU Unlikely to Join US' Crusade Against Iran
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the nuclear agreement, threatening to unilaterally withdraw from it if it is not revised calling it a “terrible nuclear deal.”
Earlier in April, a diplomatic source in Washington told Sputnik that the EU has no plans to renegotiate the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran despite calls from the Trump administration.