Brussels sanctions: Are relations between Iran and EU destined for conflict?

Ali Ragab

In light of the Iranian prevarication regarding the nuclear file, the European Union is imposing sanctions for the first time since 2013 on leaders and officials in the Iranian regime, in a move that puts pressure on Tehran to abide by the 5+1 agreement.

The expected European sanctions are related to the violation of human rights in Iran and will include an assets freeze and a travel ban against several personalities, whose names will be mentioned when the sanctions are officially issued.

In the summer of 2018, several European law enforcement agencies cooperated in thwarting a terrorist plot that included the smuggling of explosives into Austria by an Iranian diplomat, transporting them to an Iranian-Belgian couple in Luxembourg, who were then arrested by the Belgian police on their way to the target in France.

The diplomat leading that plot, Asadullah Asadi, was put on trial in Belgium last November with three conspirators, all four of whom were convicted in February and sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit a terrorist murder.

About three months before the targeting of a rally organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in France in 2018, the Iranian regime also attempted to detonate a truck bomb in an Albany compound run by the main constituent group of the NCRI, the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI).

About two months earlier, the regime had been struggling to end the nationwide protests inside Iran, which Iranian leader Ali Khamenei had directly attributed to the PMOI.

Recently, some Iranian authorities have been completely keen on directing terrorist operations against Western officials as well as expatriate Iranian activists, in part because the killing of late Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani has made their vulnerability more apparent.

The Alliance for Public Awareness, an organization representing many Iranian communities in Europe, recently wrote a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and referred to the Asadi plot as something that would have been one of the bloodiest terrorist events in European history.

The message went on to say that much stronger European policies are needed to tackle this crime and all of Iran’s malign activities.

“We call on you to hold the mullah regime accountable for state-sponsored terrorism, widespread human rights violations, the ballistic missile program, as well as attempts to acquire nuclear weapons,” the letter stated.

It added, “Make any agreement subject to the mullah regime’s commitment to end its terrorist efforts in Europe. Otherwise, we expect Europe to cut ties with the regime and close its embassies.”