The bloc also adopted restrictive measures against Iran’s state-run shipping company IRISL, its director Mohammad Reza Khiabani, and three Russian shipping firms accused of ferrying weapons across the Caspian Sea.
Brussels had already imposed sanctions on prominent Iranian officials and entities, including airlines, accused of aiding Russia’s war effort.
Tehran, however, has rejected Western accusations that it has transferred missiles or drones to Moscow for use against Kyiv.
Ahead of the new sanctions’ announcement, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday the EU was using the “non-existent missile pretext” to target its shipping lines.
“There is no legal, logical or moral basis for such behaviour. If anything, it will only compel what it ostensibly seeks to prevent,” Araghchi wrote on X.
“Freedom of navigation is a basic principle of the law of the sea. When selectively applied by some, such shortsightedness usually tends to boomerang.”
Iran’s economy is already reeling from biting US sanctions following the unilateral withdrawal of Washington in 2018 from a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
On Monday, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran would decide how to respond.
