Council of EU Extends Anti-Iran Sanctions for One Year

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Council of the European Union said on Thursday it had extended sanctions against Iran in response to alleged human rights violations until April 2019.

"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

A large part of the international anti-Iranian sanctions, including the deprivation of access to frozen assets, ban on purchasing passenger planes, and sale of oil and coal, was lifted after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verified in January 2016 Iran’s compliance with the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). However, the United States imposed new sanctions against Iran in February 2017 over its January medium-range ballistic missile test.

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.