Can the EU foreign ministers put pressure on Iran?

The EU foreign ministers meet unscheduled via video to discuss a response to Iran’s attack on Israel. Sanctions imposed against the country so far are not having the desired effect.

It’s not often that Europe’s foreign ministers are called together for an emergency meeting. The ministers meet at least once a month anyway, which is enough for most crises and conflicts. When Israel was attacked by Iran on Sunday night, EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell didn’t hesitate for long. He knew that the same question would be making the rounds in Europe’s capitals: How can we now prevent a wildfire in the region?

“The Iranian regime has led an entire region to the brink of an abyss because, for the first time, these direct attacks have come directly from Iran,” said Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock ARD focal point. Her French colleague Stéphane Séjourné sounded very similar: Nothing is more important now than de-escalating and bringing peace to the region.

The Europeans want to contribute to peace in the region or at least no new regional war. With two thrusts: Israel should, if possible, be deterred from massive retaliatory strikes after its military success in fending off almost all Iranian missiles. On the other hand, Iran should be punished. This is a priority, demands France’s Foreign Minister Séjourné. The EU must send a clear message to Iran.

The abundance of sanctions evaporates or fails to achieve its goal

A clear message that these could be new sanctions. It won’t be easy, Iran is already the country against which the most sanctions have been imposed in the world. Also from the Europeans. There isn’t much left, Commission spokesman Peter Stano pointed out to the foreign ministers before their emergency meeting: “If you look at the sanctions, then there are a lot.” Stano lists them: Export bans from Europe for entire sectors of the economy, including industrial plants and high-tech products for the construction of weapons.

The USA has imposed significantly more economic sanctions, but the results are sobering. The mullahs’ regime is stable in power while the population is impoverished. It is the people who suffer most from the sanctions, while the regime enriches itself through smuggling and the black market, including from the oil exports that are now going to China.

Terror of the Revolutionary Guards stops

After the brutal suppression of the women’s protests, the Europeans specifically targeted those responsible. Members of the notorious Revolutionary Guard have had their accounts blocked in the EU. But the successes are manageable, the terror against the Iranian opposition continues unabated.

Even at the emergency meeting, the foreign ministers will always have to ask themselves whether new bans, for example on business relations with Iran, will cause more harm to the population than to the regime in Tehran.