German Foreign Minister says her country and the EU are examining whether to classify Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization amid crackdown on protests.
Elad Benari31.10.22, 6:38
Germany and the European Union are examining whether to classify Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday, according to Reuters.
“I made it clear last week that we will launch another package of sanctions, that we will examine how we can also list the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization,” Baerbock was quoted as having said in a interview with ARD broadcaster.
Her comments come a day after the head of the Revolutionary Guards warned protesters that Saturday would be their last day of taking to the streets, in a sign that security forces may intensify their already fierce crackdown on widespread unrest.
A wave of unrest has rocked Iran since Mahsa Amini, 22, died on September 16 after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.
The street violence has led to dozens of deaths, mostly of protesters but also members of the security forces.
Baerbock also said on Sunday there were currently no negotiations about the nuclear agreement between Iran and the West.
The 2015 agreement with major powers, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has been on life support since then-president Donald Trump withdrew the United States from it in 2018, but the US and Iran have been holding indirect talks since April 2021 in an effort to revive it.
Iran recently announced it had submitted its comments to the US response to the European Union’s draft for reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
While Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said at the time that Iran’s response was prepared based on a constructive approach, a senior Biden administration official told Politico, “We are studying Iran’s response, but the bottom line is that it is not at all encouraging.”
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A US official said late last month that the efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal have “hit a wall” because of Iran’s insistence on the closure of the UN nuclear watchdog’s investigations.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price reiterated recently that “it’s no secret that a deal does not appear imminent. A deal does not appear in the offing, at least not at the moment, because Iran’s demands have consistently gone beyond the four corners of the JCPOA.”
Content retrieved from: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/361968.