Opinion

After uniting against Russia, the West is applying the same approach to Iran

Following the success of a swift collective response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Western countries are now coordinating efforts to sanction Iran for human rights abuses

Lessons are being learned from the failure of slow and disjointed measures against Iran in the past

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People protest against executions and detentions in Iran, in front of the Iranian Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, US, on December 17. Photo: AFP

Florence Coumbe is an analyst of Middle East politics and security who has been working recently with investigations business Alaco Limited, including assisting in the preparation of its monthly sanctions guide.

Published: 2:30am, 31 Dec 2022Updated: 3:30am, 31 Dec 2022

On December 14, the United Nations adopted a resolution to remove Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the first time a state has been expelled from the body. The passing of this US-drafted resolution was described by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan as “another sign of the growing international consensus on Iran”.

Although “consensus” is perhaps an overstatement – there were eight votes against the resolution, including from Russia and China, and 16 abstentions, compared to 29 votes in favour – the move could be seen as the latest in a sequence of increasingly coordinated action against the Iranian regime that began in the wake of the killing of Jina (Mahsa) Amini.

Economic sanctions have been the primary tool deployed in this effort; just days after Amini’s death while in custody, on September 22, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Iran’s morality police, the body that had detained Amini, for violence against women. The UK followed suit on October 10, with the EU imposing sanctions a week later.