January 9, 2019 - 16:02 AMT
Iran says EU "not honest in countering terrorism"

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman condemned theEuropean Union's "irrational and surprising decision to sanction some Iranian nationals" on Wednesday, January 9, saying that this shows that "the EU is not honest in its claim to fight terrorism", IRNA reports.

"Instead of putting criminal terror groups, such as the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, aka MEK) and Alahvazieh, on their sanctions list, the EU gives them a free hand to do their anti-human and terrorist actions and even supports them," Bahram Qasemi said.

"However, they accuse Iran, to whom they owe a lot. Iran is the pioneer of the fight against terrorism and Europe owes its security to Iran."

Qasemi added that in response to this move, Iran will reciprocate accordingly.

Europe sanctioned an Iranian intelligence service, connecting it to taking some actions in Europe.

The authorities of Iran's Foreign Ministry had already rejected the allegations and said that such moves are the result of attempts of the Israeli intelligence service to harm Tehran-Brussels ties following US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known as the Iran Deal.

Dutch government has accused Iran of directing two political assassinations in the Netherlands, which triggered EU sanctions against Tehran’s military intelligence service.