Last year alone, a number of individuals were arrested in different European countries because of their links to the Iranian regime and their involvement in terrorist or assassinations plots. For example, a couple of individuals were arrested in Albania after an attack was planned on members of the opposition that reside there.
Then it was discovered by Belgian, German and French authorities that a bombing had been planned in June just outside Paris. The targets were attendees of the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s (NCRI) annual gathering. Only a few months later, authorities in Denmark uncovered a planned assassination of Iranian dissidents.
In response to these actions, the European Union announced earlier this month that it was imposing sanctions on individuals related to the Iranian regime’s intelligence agency. This includes the freezing of assets of such individuals. Although any action is positive, the sanctions could have gone further. As they stand, they are hardly a deterrent to the regime.
Several EU countries are drawing up their own sanctions on Iran. Germany, for example, is banning an Iranian airline, Mahan Air, from entering German airspace following the confirmation that Iran has been sending personnel and weapons to Syria in efforts to support Syrian President Bashar al Assad.
It has also been mentioned by several European officials that the EU might not be present at the international summit next month. In fact, at the beginning of the week, European foreign ministers met in Brussels to discuss trade with Iran and the U.S. sanctions on trade and investments.
The Iranian regime is guilty of numerous crimes and abuses at home and in other nations in the region. It has systematically denied its people the most basic of human rights and it is involved with some of the most horrifying atrocities in the region. It has plundered the nation’s wealth on fuelling foreign conflicts and spreading chaos across the region. Unresponsiveness in face of belligerences, terrorism and rocket launching and … of Iranian mullahs will only encourage them.
How Europe can ignore these major red flags is impossible to comprehend. How can the EU – that places so much value and importance on the respect of human rights – just ignore the suffering people of Iran?
Many do not like President Trump, but he should at least be commended for recognising that the Iranian regime is a dangerous regime that cannot be allowed to continue terrorising innocent people. He, and a number of officials in his administration, have acknowledged the people of Iran and recognised them as the first victims in this whole scenario.
Will the EU manage to recognise this?
