By AFP – Agence France Presse
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Israel’s Foreign Minister Gidon Saar on Tuesday praised the European Union’s decision to widen sanctions on Iran, calling it “necessary” to combat the threats from Iran.
In a post on X, Saar wrote that the fresh EU sanctions announced on Monday, imposed over Iran’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Iran denies, were “necessary steps in the international community’s fight against the Iranian threat, which constitutes the greatest danger to the security and stability of the Middle East, Europe, and the entire world.”
“I welcome the decision by the European Union foreign ministers yesterday to impose severe sanctions on the Iranian regime,” he wrote.
“These sanctions will harm the production processes of Iranian missiles and drones, make it more difficult to distribute Iranian weapons on ships to conflict zones, and increase the economic pressure on the Ayatollah regime.”
The EU said it would broaden already existing sanctions to target vessels and ports used by Tehran to transfer drones and missiles to the region.
Among the steps decided, the 27-nation bloc said it would prohibit the export, transfer, supply or sale from the EU to Iran of components used to make missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
It also moved to ban any transaction with ports “owned, operated or controlled” by sanctioned individuals and entities — or otherwise used to supply Russia with drones, missiles, related technology and components.
Iran’s foreign ministry slammed the new sanctions as unjustified on Tuesday.
The ministry’s spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said in a statement that “the measures of the European Union and United Kingdom in applying sanctions against Iran cannot be justified”.
Israel, a sworn enemy of Iran, is currently at war with two Tehran-backed groups: the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
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