TEHRAN- A series of fresh sanctions have been imposed by Britain on a number of individuals, including General Esmail Qaani, the head of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

According to British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Thursday, Washington was consulted in the planning of the asset freezes and travel restrictions.

Others in the list included Mohammad Saeed Izadi, a member of the IRGC; Ali Shirazi, an IRGC member; Majid Zarei, an IRGC member; Mustafa Majid Khani, an IRGC member; Khaled Qadoumi, representative of Hamas to Iran; Nasser Abu Sharif, representative of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad to Iran and the Palestinian branch of the Quds Force.

Cameron declared, “Iran’s actions constitute an intolerable threat to the UK and our allies,” charging that the nation has threatened citizens on British territory and is allegedly using its power to “destabilize the Middle East through support to armed groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”

Washington, which had previously sanctioned the majority of people named by London, said that it will join Britain in penalizing Zarei, whom it accused of supporting Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movements. 

The prosecutor general of Tehran as well as other prominent IRGC commanders are among the more than 350 Iranian people and institutions that the UK has targeted.

In addition, the U.S. and the EU have implemented sanctions of their own.

The United States and its allies have imposed the worst economic and financial sanctions on Iran for decades, directly threatening the lives of the country’s most vulnerable citizens, such as children, the elderly, and the sick.

Certain nations use unilateral coercive measures as a tactic of war to starve innocent populations, which is against international law and the UN Charter.

On May 18, 2022, the UN Special Rapporteur on the detrimental effects of unilateral coercive measures stressed the illegality of such cruel actions in a statement.

Back in April, the Iranian Foreign Ministry imposed sanctions against a number of individuals and organizations in the UK and the European Union as a retaliatory move. 

The sanctions were put in place in accordance with the decisions made by the relevant Iranian authorities and in response to actions taken by some EU and UK individuals and legal entities to support terrorist organizations and to incite and encourage acts of terrorism and violence against the Iranian people, the Foreign Ministry stated.

According to the statement, the people and organizations that have been sanctioned have meddled in the internal affairs of Iran and have incited violence and disturbance throughout the nation.

It also condemned the subjects of disseminating falsehoods and disinformation about Iran and helping escalate punitive sanctions against the nation, which Tehran regard as an example of “economic terrorism.”

The Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned the European Union and the UK regime for supporting and facilitating the actions of these individuals and entities, calling their failure to counter their destructive measures a “breach of international commitments in the field of fighting terrorism.”