The Council of the European Union on 24 July 2026 imposed restrictive measures on six additional individuals for serious human rights violations in Iran, including five judges of regional Revolutionary courts and a hacker linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The sanctions, which include asset freezes and travel bans, bring the total number of listed individuals to 269 and entities to 53 under the EU's Iran human rights sanctions regime.
The five judges targeted presided over trials against religious minorities and political dissidents, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, on vaguely defined national security and religious charges. They imposed death sentences, long prison terms, flogging, fines, and other punishments on activists, including those linked to the 2022 'Woman, Life, Freedom' protests following Mahsa Amini's death. The sixth individual, Nima Salehi, is an Iranian hacker and founder of the 'Ashiyane' cyber group, which cooperates with the EU-listed Cyber Police (FATA) and the IRGC, conducting cyber-attacks on domestic opponents and foreign institutions.
The decision follows the European Council's conclusions of 18 and 19 June 2026, which called on Iran to end violence and repression and urged further EU restrictive measures. The EU's Iran human rights sanctions regime, first introduced in 2011, has been renewed annually and was last extended until April 2027. Since 2022, the EU has significantly expanded sanctions in response to escalating human rights abuses.
The sanctions also include a ban on exporting to Iran equipment that could be used for internal repression, including telecommunications monitoring gear. The legal acts were published in the Official Journal of the EU on 24 July 2026.