Britain sanctions Iran interior minister, police force over rights abuses

The head of Iran’s parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission said he had written to the foreign minister urging retaliatory steps after the European Union designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.

Ebrahim Azizi said in the letter that Iran should designate military attachés from EU member states as terrorists and expel them, particularly from countries he said had acted against Iran during recent conflicts or unrest, state media reported.

He described the EU decision as a political and “ill-considered” move that undermined regional and international security and violated international law.

Iran has no plans to transfer its enriched nuclear material to any country and talks are not focused on such an option, a senior Iranian official said, pushing back against earlier reports.

Ali Bagheri, deputy for foreign policy at Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretariat, said Iranian officials had no intention of moving enriched nuclear materials out of the country.

“Iranian officials have no plan to transfer enriched nuclear materials to any country, and negotiations are not about such an issue,” he was quoted as saying by state media.

His comments came after Reuters reported on Monday that an unnamed Iranian official said diplomacy was ongoing and that Iran was ready to show flexibility on uranium enrichment, including possibly handing over 400 kg of highly enriched uranium under certain arrangements.

The European Union said on Monday it rejected Iran’s decision to consider the armies of EU countries as “terrorist groups” after the bloc designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.

“We reject the announcement of the listing of EU armies and the accusation of terrorism,” European Commission spokesman Anouar El Anouni said.

Iran’s move followed an EU decision last Thursday to list the Revolutionary Guards, a step that marked a shift in the bloc’s approach toward Iran’s leadership after a deadly crackdown on protests.

A senior Iranian military commander warned on Monday that Iran would respond forcefully if its security was threatened, saying the region could not remain safe if Iran was unsafe.

“We will never accept that Iran is unsafe while the region is secure,” Kioumars Heidari, deputy commander of Iran’s central Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters, was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

He said that if the United States endangered Iran’s security, “neither the Zionist regime nor other countries that help the US will have security,” adding they would be defeated and forced to leave the region.

Heidari also warned Washington to act "wisely" toward Iran. “It is in the Americans’ interest to behave rationally,” he said, adding that otherwise they would face a “harsh and regret-inducing” response.

Iran’s foreign minister said on Monday that Tehran remained committed to diplomacy while standing alongside its armed forces, stressing that the two tracks were not in conflict.

“We are in the same trench as the armed forces,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said at a ceremony in Tehran, according to state media.

He said Iran had never abandoned diplomacy and was always ready for talks “on equal footing and with mutual respect,” adding that “diplomacy is not compatible with threats, intimidation or pressure.”