EU announces tough Iran sanctions

The European Union imposed new, tough sanctions on Iran.

The new measures target, among other areas, Iran’s energy sector, including bans on “new investment, technical assistance and transfers of technologies, equipment and services related to these areas, in particular related to refining, liquefaction and liquefied natural gas technology,” according to a Reuters account of a statement issued Thursday in Brussels.

The sanctions come a week after the U.N. Security Council broadened existing sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is believed to control Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program, and encouraged member nations to interdict and inspect Iranian cargo for banned weapons.

The sanctions also come a day after the United States expanded its own list of prohibited Iranian entities, including a bank and a number of shipping companies.

Some U.S. pro-Israel groups praised the raft of new sanctions—and asked for more.

“We commend this first step and agree more must be done,” the American Israel Public Affairs Committee said in a statement. “AIPAC continues to urge the Administration and our allies in Europe, Asia and across the globe to immediately implement further crippling economic, political and diplomatic sanctions on Iran before it is too late.”

Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, a founder of The Israel Project, which partnered with European Jewish bodies to promote tougher sanctions, said the governments saw containing Iranian ambitions in the region as not simply a matter of protecting Israel but of self-defense.

“They did what’s in their own best interest,” she said.