Top Diplomat Criticizes EU's Plan to Sanction Iran's Shipping Lines

AP Photo/Vahid Salemi

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi has condemned reports that the European Union (EU) plans to impose sanctions on the Iran Shipping Lines, calling them yet another indication that the EU's actions toward Tehran lack legal, logical, or moral justification.

Araghchi said in a post on the X on Sunday that the planned EU move would again be based on unfounded claims that Iran has been delivering missiles to Russia for use in the ongoing war in Ukraine.

He added that the EU had used the same pretexts to announce sanctions on Iran Air last month, a decision he described as an “indiscriminate targeting of air travelers”.

“Now, the EU is using the same non-existent missile pretext to also target our shipping lines,” the minister said, adding, “If anything, it will only compel what it ostensibly seeks to prevent.”

A reporter of the US-based newspaper the Wall Street Journal claimed in a Saturday report that the EU is set to announce sanctions on the IRISL.

“More EU Iran sanctions coming Monday over missile deliveries to Russia as previewed previously. Will include a few sectoral sanctions, including shipping,” Laurence Norman wrote on his X account.

Araghchi warned that the sanctions on Iranian shipping lines would backfire, adding that they would be against freedom of navigation as a basic principle of the law of the sea.

Iran has repeatedly rejected accusations it has been supplying weapons to Russia for use in the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The EU accused Iran Air and two other Iranian airlines in its sanctions announcement in mid-October that they have had a role in the alleged supply of drones and missiles from Iran to Russia.

The decision led to Iran Air canceling its regular weekly flights to seven destinations in EU countries.