BRUSSELS (Reuters) -EU member states maintained on Tuesday restrictive measures against Iran under the non-proliferation sanctions regime after a nuclear agreement transition day, according to a statement, a move Tehran condemned as “illegal”.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, is a defunct 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and major powers under which Tehran agreed to restrain its nuclear program in return for relief from U.S., EU and U.N. sanctions.
“The Council adopted legal acts to maintain the designations, that had initially been imposed by the United Nations for individuals and entities involved in nuclear or ballistic missiles activities or affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” the statement said.
“The Council also agreed to maintain sectoral and individual measures, existing under the EU’s sanctions regime, notably those related to Iran nuclear proliferation, as well as arms and missile embargoes.”
These are not new measures imposed against Iran, the Council said, and all EU sanctions that had already been lifted under the JCPOA remain lifted.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani rejected the decision as “unilateral, illegal and politically unjustifiable”, Iranian state media reported.
(Reporting by Marine Strauss and Parisa Hafezi in Dubai; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Jonathan Oatis)