Iran slams EU over new ‘immoral and unlawful’ sanctions amid US-Israeli aggression 

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei vehemently condemned the European Union’s decision to impose new sanctions on 19 Iranian officials and entities. 

In a social media post on Wednesday, Baghaei said the EU is punishing Tehran for exercising its legitimate right to self-defense under international law.

"This is as absurd as it is immoral and utterly unlawful: you seek to punish Iran for exercising its inherent right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter and for resisting the brutal and unlawful aggression of the United States and the Israeli regime, while you continue to arm, shield, and enable those very genocidal aggressors," Baghaei stated.

The Iranian spokesman said the European position "amounts to nothing less than active complicity in international lawlessness and heinous atrocity crimes".

The sanctions package, approved by EU member state ambassadors, targets individuals and organizations it accused of “human rights violations” during what Western officials referred to as “crackdown on peaceful protests” in January.

The package still requires formal approval from the Council of the European Union before taking full effect.

This follows the February 28 joint US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran that assassinated Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and killed thousands of civilians.

Iran has since launched retaliatory operations against American and Israeli assets across several Persian Gulf countries and the Israeli-occupied territories.

Iran has shown no signs of backing down from its position, with military commanders repeatedly vowing sustained retaliation.

Earlier this week, Baghaei also criticized European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for "hypocrisy and double standards" regarding the war.

In response to von der Leyen's remarks that the people of Iran "deserve freedom, dignity, and the right to decide their own future," Baghaei accused her of "green-lighting occupation, genocide, and atrocities, and now laundering U.S./Israeli crime of aggression and war crimes against Iranians".

“Scroll through the replies under your own post and see what people really think about your whitewashing of criminals,” Baghaei told von der Leyen.

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