Top Iranian general mocks sanctions

Maj. General Mohammad Bagheri joked the EU could steal his assets to buy fuel for Europeans’ homes in winter

Maj. General Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of the Iranian military, mocked the EU’s efforts to punish him financially with sanctions on Monday, jokingly giving the bloc “permission to confiscate all [his] properties and assets…from all bank accounts in the world and use them to buy coal for European citizens.” 

“A difficult winter is ahead!” Bagheri snarked, hinting at the energy crisis facing European citizens as they wrestle with gas costs at or near record highs and even potential shortages of fuel due to the sanctions their leaders imposed on Russian suppliers.  

Bagheri’s “humanitarian proposal” came in response to a round of largely symbolic sanctions from the UK and EU, which banned the general and two other Iranian military officials from entry and allowed any assets they held in those jurisdictions to be confiscated. The general is accused of supplying Russia with the kamikaze drones used against Ukrainian infrastructure and military targets, in violation of a partial arms embargo. 

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The general chided the EU for “taking the dead end path of their American masters,” describing the pile-on against his country as “the blind leading the blind.”  

Reminding the EU he had been sanctioned by the US Treasury in November 2019 along with the rest of the Iranian military, Bagheri noted that “our armed forces turned the threats into an opportunity,” pointing out that while Tehran was initially unable to purchase so much as barbed wire from other countries due to the sanctions, this gave the country no choice but to become self-sufficient. “Today [those countries] are lining up to buy Iranian missiles and drones,” he boasted. 

Both Iran and Russia have denied US and EU accusations of drone sales. Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the UN insisted the unmanned aircraft deployed in Ukraine were “manufactured in Russia,” while Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Saeed Iravani, “categorically” rejected the “unfounded and unsubstantiated claims.” The US has responded by upping the ante, claiming not only Iranian drones but actual Iranian technicians are on the ground in Russia assisting in the operation of the aerial vehicles.

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