Denmark’s Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen announced on January 8 that the European Union has agreed to enact sanctions against Iran’s intelligence agency.
According to the Danish foreign ministry, both Iran’s intelligence agency and its director general of intelligence, Saeid Hashemi Moghadam, were now on the EU’s terror list.
As reported by Euronews online, Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said the EU’s decision marked “a huge victory”. In a statement issued on January 8, he said: “No other country’s intelligence services are on the terror list. So it’s a very clear signal we send to Iran today.”
In a tweet posted earlier, Anders added that he believed the signal showed that the EU would “not accept such behaviour in Europe”.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen tweeted shortly after, saying the EU’s decision was “very encouraging”.
“(The) EU stands united,” he said, adding that Iran’s actions were “unacceptable and must have consequences.”
In a separate report, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) noted that the sanctions mean the ministry and individuals’ assets were frozen. Travel bans have also been imposed.
The disciplinary measures do not stem from nor impact the Iran nuclear deal.
According to DW, Denmark has spearheaded efforts to impose disciplinary measures against Iran. Tehran has long denied involvement and described the allegations as a “series of conspiracies” perpetuated by Iranian opposition groups.
