EU in no rush to lift Iran sanctions, von der Leyen says

Even if military operations between the United States and Iran fully end, the European Union does not plan to lift sanctions against Iran, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

Report informs that, according to von der Leyen, Tehran must first give up weapons of mass destruction and respect human rights.

She made the remarks in response to a question on whether the EU would be ready to lift sanctions against Iran after the United States once the fighting finally stops and peace is restored in the region.

Von der Leyen said the EU had two sanctions mechanisms against Iran, focused on two issues: human rights violations and weapons of mass destruction.

She said the EU needed to see real changes in Iran's behavior on each of these issues, adding that sanctions could be lifted only after that.

Von der Leyen stressed that the EU considers sanctions a mechanism for changing the behavior of foreign states, and therefore they can be lifted only when that behavior changes.