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The UK has announced “full and further sanctions” against Iran amid widespread protests that have resulted in hundreds of deaths and arrests.
The sanctions will target finance, energy, transport, software and other significant industries, Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, told MPs.
She also said that the Foreign Office had summoned the Iranian ambassador over reports of the country’s response to protests against the regime.
Her announcement came as Donald Trump urged Iranians to “keep protesting”, adding that “help is on its way”.
Earlier, Trump announced a 25% tariff on any country doing business with Iran, angering China, Iran’s leading export partner.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said the EU would “swiftly” propose further sanctions on those responsible for the “repression” of demonstrations in Iran.
Cooper, speaking in the Commons, said: “The UK will bring forward legislation to implement full and further sanctions and sectoral measures. The UK has already designated key players in Iran’s oil, energy, nuclear and financial systems.
“Further measures will target finance, energy, transport, software and other significant industries which are advancing Iranian nuclear escalation, and we will work further with the EU and other partners to explore what additional measures might now be needed in response to developments.”
She said she had spoken to the Iranian foreign minister on Monday to set out the UK’s “total abhorrence of the killings, the violence, and the repression that we are seeing”.
Cooper said Iran’s claims that its domestic protests were due to foreign influence and instigation were “lies and propaganda”.
“Just as they did in 2022, it’s absolutely clear the Iranian regime are trying to paint these protests as the result of foreign influence and instigation,” she said.
“We and other governments across the world are determined not to play into the hands of the regime or to allow our words or actions to be twisted to support their lies and propaganda …
“The world is watching Iran, and the UK will continue to confront the regime’s lies, to call out its repression and to take the steps necessary to protect the UK’s interests.”
Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, questioned why the Iranian ambassador to the UK was not summoned sooner. She said: “Where is the government’s resolve to stand up to Iran, back those protesting and work to bring about the end of the cruelty of this regime? As Iranian citizens are sacrificing their lives in the fight for their own liberation, what message of hope and reassurance does the foreign secretary give to those risking their lives on the streets of Iran each day?”
Earlier on Tuesday, Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, said he believed the Iranian government was in its “final days and weeks”. He added: “If a regime can only keep itself in power by force, then it’s effectively at the end.”
