TEHRAN, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani condemned the European Union's fresh sanctions against a number of Iranian individuals and institutions, describing them as "interference" in the internal affairs of his country, said a ministry statement on Tuesday.
The Council of the European Union on Monday issued sanctions against 11 individuals and four entities in Iran over "their role in the death of Mahsa Amini," a 22-year-old Iranian woman.
Kanaani described the EU's sanctions as the "exploitation of human rights as a tool to achieve political goals," and called the decision "fundamentally rejected, ineffective and invalid."
The EU and its members are the "great violators of human rights" because of their "cooperation" with the United States over its "illegal" anti-Iran sanctions, he said.
Reciprocal sanction measures will soon be adopted against the relevant European individuals and institutions, the Iranian spokesman added.
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian slammed the EU's sanctions as an "unconstructive act out of miscalculation and on the basis of widespread disinformation." ■
