The European Union has imposed sanctions on seven Iranian individuals and two organizations in response to the detention of EU citizens, which the bloc has described as a policy of state-sponsored hostage-taking.
The sanctions, approved by EU foreign ministers on Monday, target key figures involved in the imprisonment of foreign nationals in Iran.
According to Reuters, among those sanctioned are the director of Tehran's Evin prison, several judges, and other judicial officials.
Additionally, the main prison in Shiraz has been added to the list of organizations facing sanctions.
Around twenty Westerners are currently held in Iran, AFP reported last month citing a French diplomatic source.
Among those detained are French nationals Cecile Kohler and her partner, Jacques Paris, who were arrested in May 2022 while sightseeing in Iran.
Other European detainees include Ahmadreza Jalali, an Iranian-Swedish dual national and scientist, who was detained during a visit to Iran in April 2016. Jalali, who was granted Swedish citizenship while in prison, was sentenced to death in 2017 on charges of espionage for Israel's Mossad.
British couple Craig and Lindsay Foreman were arrested in January 2025 in Kerman, Iran, on charges of espionage while on a motorcycle journey from Armenia to Pakistan. Iranian authorities allege they were collecting intelligence under the guise of tourism.
British-Iranian activist Mehran Raoof is also among those currently detained in Tehran's Evin prison. Arrested by Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) on 16 October 2020, he has been held in prolonged solitary confinement, according to rights group Amnesty International.
Last month, a source from the German Federal Foreign Office told Iran International that the German embassy in Tehran is investigating reports of the detention of a German national and has raised the matter with Iranian authorities, without providing further details.
