BRUSSELS: European Union foreign ministers on Monday agreed on new sanctions on Israeli settlers over violence against Palestinians, as a change of government in Hungary ended months of blockage. &quot;It was high time we move from deadlock to delivery,&quot; EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said in announcing the green light. &quot;Extremisms and violence carry consequences.&quot; French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the EU was &quot;sanctioning the main Israeli organisations guilty of supporting the extremist and violent colonisation of the West Bank, as well as their leaders&quot;. &quot;These most serious and intolerable acts must cease without delay,&quot; he wrote on social media. The move in response to rising violence and settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank had been stalled by Hungary&#39;s former prime minister Viktor Orban. But the ouster of the nationalist leader and Israel ally by Peter Magyar now appears to have paved the way for the veto to be lifted. EU officials said seven settlers or settler organizations would be blacklisted.&nbsp; Israel condemned the new sanctions. &quot;As Israel and the US are &#39;doing Europe&#39;s dirty work&#39; by fighting for civilization against jihadist lunatics in Iran and elsewhere, the European Union exposed its moral bankruptcy by drawing a false symmetry between Israeli citizens and Hamas terrorists,&quot; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu&#39;s office said on its official X account. Israel&#39;s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir denounced the European Union as &quot;antisemitic&quot;, saying the EU was &quot;trying to tie the hands of those who defend themselves&quot;. &quot;The European Union has chosen, in an arbitrary and political manner, to impose sanctions on Israeli citizens and entities because of their political views and without any basis,&quot; Foreign Minister Gideon Saar posted on X. &nbsp;Proposals&nbsp;The occupied West Bank has been gripped by almost daily violence involving Israeli troops and settlers since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023. There has been a surge in deadly West Bank attacks by Israeli settlers since the start of the Iran war on Feb 28, Palestinian officials and the United Nations have said. While the EU is moving ahead with the sanctions on Israeli settlers, there remains no consensus yet among member states to take further steps against Israel, such as curbing trade ties. Foreign ministers meeting in Brussels discussed calls to ban products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Italy&#39;s Antonio Tajani said that the EU&#39;s executive would now make a proposal on the move, and then the bloc would see if it had enough backing from member states. &quot;This is an issue that has been discussed, but no decision has been taken, pending the proposals that will come,&quot; he said. Excluding East Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank in settlements that are illegal under international law, among some three million Palestinians. In 2025, the expansion of Israeli settlements reached its highest level since at least 2017, when the United Nations began tracking data, according to a UN report.

FILE: Palestinian farmers speak with Israeli soldiers after being attacked by Israeli settlers while farming their land in Salem village east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on November 28, 2024 [Zain Jaafar/AFP]

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Europe

European Union foreign ministers on Monday agreed on new sanctions on Israeli settlers over violence against Palestinians, as a change of government in Hungary ended months of blockage.

EU agrees long-stalled sanctions on Israeli settlers

VIENNA: A landmark 10-year deal world powers signed with Iran to rein in its nuclear programme officially ends Saturday. But the deal began to fall apart years ago, and wide-ranging UN sanctions were reimposed last month on the Islamic republic, effectively burying the agreement but creating space for something new, according to experts. What does &#39;Termination Day&#39; mean?&nbsp;The deal&#39;s &quot;termination day&quot; was set for October 18, 2025, exactly 10 years after the adoption of resolution 2231, with which the UN Security Council enshrined it. Officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the agreement between Iran and China, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the United States saw the lifting of international sanctions against Iran in exchange for restrictions on Tehran&#39;s nuclear programme. But Washington left the deal in 2018 during President Donald Trump&#39;s first term in office and reinstated sanctions. Tehran then began stepping up its nuclear programme. Talks to revive the agreement have failed so far, and in August, Britain, Germany and France triggered the so-called &quot;snapback&quot; process, leading to the re-imposition of the UN sanctions. &quot;Termination day is relatively meaningless due to snapback,&quot; Arms Control Association expert Kelsey Davenport told AFP. A diplomat close to Iran&#39;s nuclear issues told AFP that Iran would mark termination day with a statement Saturday at the UN in New York. Where are we now?&nbsp;Though &quot;lifeless&quot; for years, snapback &quot;officially buried&quot; the nuclear deal, with &quot;its sorry fate continuing to cast a shadow over the future&quot;, said Ali Vaez, the International Crisis Group&#39;s Iran project director. Western powers and Israel have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, a claim Tehran denies. Nuclear talks between Iran and world powers are currently deadlocked. &quot;Iran remains sceptical of the utility of engaging with the US given its history with President Trump, while Washington still seeks a maximalist deal,&quot; Vaez told AFP. On Monday, Trump said that he wanted a peace deal with Iran, but stressed the ball was in Tehran&#39;s court. Tehran has repeatedly said it remains open to diplomacy with the United States, provided Washington offers guarantees against military action during any potential talks. The US joined Israel in striking the Islamic republic&#39;s nuclear sites during a 12-day war in June. The three European powers also last week announced they will seek to restart talks to find a &quot;comprehensive, durable and verifiable agreement&quot;. Iranian top diplomat Abbas Araghchi said during an interview last week that Tehran does &quot;not see any reason to negotiate&quot; with the Europeans given they triggered the snapback mechanism. What&#39;s next?&nbsp;Despite the challenges, the death of the 2015 deal &quot;creates space to explore creative solutions to the Iranian nuclear crisis&quot;, analyst Davenport said. &quot;Diplomacy remains the only viable option to reduce Iran&#39;s proliferation risk in the long-term,&quot; she added. But she warned the more time elapsed, &quot;the more challenging it will be to negotiate a deal down the road and the greater the risk of conflict re-erupting&quot;.

The Iran nuclear deal ended on October 18, 2025, after UN sanctions were reimposed. The agreement’s collapse deepens tensions but may open space for new diplomatic efforts to address Iran’s nuclear programme.

Articles tagged with "UN sactions"

EU agrees long-stalled sanctions on Israeli settlers

Iran nuclear deal officially ends as UN sanctions return