The Council of the European Union on 24 July 2026 imposed restrictive measures on six additional individuals for serious human rights violations in Iran, targeting five judges of regional Revolutionary courts and a hacker linked to the regime's cyber apparatus. The judges presided over trials that imposed death sentences, long prison terms, flogging, and fines on political dissidents and religious minorities, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, often on vaguely defined national security and religious charges. The hacker, Nima Salehi, founder of the 'Ashiyane' cyber group, cooperates with the EU-listed Cyber Police and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, conducting cyber-attacks on domestic opponents and foreign institutions. The new listings bring the total number of individuals under EU sanctions for human rights violations in Iran to 269, along with 53 entities. The measures include asset freezes, travel bans to the EU, and a prohibition on making funds available to those listed. An existing ban on exporting equipment for internal repression, including telecommunications monitoring gear, remains in place. The EU first introduced the sanctions regime in 2011, renewing it annually, with the current extension valid until April 2027. Since 2022, the EU has significantly expanded the sanctions in response to escalating human rights abuses, particularly following the 2022 'Woman, Life, Freedom' protests. The European Council, in its conclusions of 18-19 June 2026, called on Iran to end violence and repression and stated the EU would continue working on further restrictive measures. The legal acts for the latest sanctions were published in the Official Journal of the EU on 24 July 2026.
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