Today, Tuesday, the European Union announced that it is considering imposing new sanctions against Iran due to the crackdown on protests sparked by the “murder” of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, following a similar move by the United States.
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, died three days after she was arrested in Tehran by the vice police for not following the Islamic dress code.
Her death sparked protests in Iran and solidarity marches with Iranian women around the world.
At least 92 people have been killed in Iran since September 16, according to the Oslo-based Organization for Human Rights in Iran (IHR), while authorities reported about 60 people killed, including 12 members of the security forces. . More than a thousand people were arrested.
EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell said the EU was considering all available options, including restrictive measures in response to the killing of Mahsa Amini and how Iranian security forces handled the demonstrations, explaining that by “restrictive measures” he meant sanctions. .
His decision comes after US President Joe Biden announced in a statement on Monday that “this week the United States will bear additional costs for those responsible for the violence against peaceful demonstrators,” adding: “We will continue to hold Iranian officials accountable.” and uphold human rights.” Iranians to demonstrate freely.”
Meanwhile, human rights organizations condemned the brutal crackdown on students, especially during the events that took place on Sunday night at the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, which is Iran’s most important scientific university.
The Oslo-based Organization for Human Rights in Iran (IHR) released two videos, one showing Iranian police officers on motorcycles chasing students who run into an underground car park, and the other showing police officers on motorcycles transporting detainees with their heads covered in black cloth bags. colors.
The demonstrations have spread to schools, and videos released by the Kurdish human rights organization Khinkau show schoolgirls demonstrating in two cities in Amini’s hometown of Iran’s Kurdistan province.
Young female protesters chanted “Woman, life, freedom” as they walked down the central divider of a busy highway in Mariwan, and AFP was unable to verify the authenticity of the recording.
Biden did not specify what action would be taken against Iran, which has already been the target of tough US economic sanctions, largely related to its controversial nuclear program.
Tehran responded Tuesday by denouncing the “hypocrisy” of the US president.
“Mr. Joe Biden would think a little about the human rights situation in his country before taking humanitarian initiatives, although hypocrisy does not require reflection,” wrote State Department spokesman Nasser Kanaani in an Instagram post cited by local agencies.
Islamic Republic Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lashed out at Washington on Monday, accusing the US and Israel of being behind the country’s biggest protest movement since the 2019 protests over high gasoline prices.
In his first reaction to the protests, the 83-year-old Khamenei said: “I am making it clear that these riots and riots were planned by the United States and the usurper and fake Zionist regime, and their mercenaries and some perfidious Iranians abroad helped them. .”
nuclear file negotiations
The unrest has cast a shadow over diplomatic efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the major powers, which nearly reached a breakthrough in recent months before stalling again.
But White House press secretary Karen Jean-Pierre said “issues related to Iran’s behavior” are not related to efforts to revive the nuclear deal, which Washington will seek “as long as we believe” it is in the interests of US national security.
Khamenei, 83, also said that the police “have a duty to confront criminals and keep the community safe.”
He added that Amini’s death “was bitter and burned my heart”, but considered that “the reaction without any investigation was not normal”, adding: “The reaction is not that some of them destabilize the streets, burn the Koran, remove the veil . veiled women and set fire to mosques, banks and people’s cars.”
He emphasized that the movements “were not normal. It was a pre-planned riot.”
Iranian authorities have released on bail singer Shervin Hajipour, who was arrested after presenting a song that circulated on social media in which he supported the protests, a judiciary official said Tuesday.
And 400 people arrested in the crackdown have been released “on the condition that they do not repeat their actions,” according to the official IRNA news agency, citing Tehran’s prosecutor Ali Salehi.
Mehr News Agency reported that two hundred students gathered on Sunday afternoon at the Sharif University of Technology and chanted anti-regime slogans, as well as the slogans “Woman lives in freedom” and “Students prefer death to humiliation” to protest the death. Mahsa Amini and the arrest of students during demonstrations.
For its part, Canada has imposed new sanctions on Iranian officials, with the British Foreign Secretary summoning a senior Iranian diplomat to London on Monday.