Borrell advocates more effective sanctions against Iran, while keeping Gaza in mind

This Thursday, the head of European diplomacy defended a review of the Iran sanctions system to make it more effective, but asked that attention in the Middle East not be diverted from the Gaza Strip.

Speaking on arrival at the meeting of G7 foreign ministers, which will last until Friday on the Italian island of Capri in the Bay of Naples, Josep Borrell noted that “this is a very beautiful place, but unfortunately the world is not like that.” and looked at some of the conflicts in the world that will be on the agenda of the heads of diplomacy of the group formed by Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, as well as the European Union.

In the Middle East, and following Iran’s attack on Israel over the weekend, the European Union’s (EU) High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy insisted that “escalation” must be avoided, warning that “we are at brink of regional war in the Middle East,” which will have serious consequences for the rest of the world, especially in Europe. “Then stop,” he urged.

Regarding sanctions against Tehran, one of the main issues on the negotiating table, he noted that since July 2023, “there is already a sanctions regime in place to prevent Iran from exporting components for the production of drones and missiles,” and stated that what are sanctions? it needs to be “revised, expanded and made more effective.”

Borrell recalled that there is “another sanctions regime against Iran for the supply of drones.” [aeronaves sem tripulação] to Russia” and indicated that in this case it could be expanded to supply drones not only to Moscow, but also to “proxies” (agents under the influence) of Iran in the Middle East.

Also upon arrival at the meeting, German Foreign Minister Annalena Bärbock said the G7 must demonstrate a “reaction” to Iran’s “unprecedented” attack on Israel, namely by taking “additional measures” to the sanctions regimes already in place. insisting on the need to avoid “escalation.”

The head of European diplomacy, however, warned that the conflict between Israel and Iran cannot divert attention “from what is happening in the Gaza Strip” as “the epicenter of the drama is still there and that is where attention needs to be focused.”

Josep Borrell said the West should continue to pressure Israel to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip rather than continue a planned ground offensive in Rafah, in the south of the strip, where “1.7 million Palestinians are on the streets with nowhere to run.” , meaning that such an offensive would “obviously lead to a humanitarian catastrophe.”

Iran launched an attack on Israel on Saturday night and early Sunday using more than 300 “drones” (unmanned aerial vehicles), cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, the vast majority of which were intercepted, according to the Israeli army.

Tehran justified the attack as a measure of self-defense, saying the military action was a response to the “aggression of the Zionist regime” against Iranian diplomatic facilities in Damascus, Syria, which occurred on April 1 and was marked by the deaths of seven members of the Revolutionary Guard and six Syrian citizens.

The Western international community strongly condemned Iran’s attack on Israel, calling for maximum restraint to avoid an escalation of violence in the Middle East, a region already highly unstable due to more than six months of war between Israel and Israel. Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.