New EU Sanctions Over Protest Crackdown, Uranium Enrichment, Russia Drones

The European Union has announced a fifth round of sanctions against Tehran in response to the harsh crackdown on anti-regime protests that have taken place in recent months, the continued enrichment of uranium towards weapons-grade purity, and the provision of drones to Russia for use in its invasion of Ukraine. A further 32 individuals, including the education minister, culture minister, and deputy leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGS), have been added to the EU sanctions list.

• Meanwhile, two entities: the Law Enforcement Forces (LEF) Cooperation Foundation and the Police Science and Social Studies Institute, have also been placed on the sanctions list.
• Reuters reports: "Iran's troubled currency broke below the psychologically key level of 500,000 rial per U.S. dollar on Monday, as market participants saw no end in sight to sanctions. The Iranian rial plummeted to a new record low of 501,300 against the U.S. dollar, according to Bonbast.com which gathers live data from Iranian exchanges."