IRNA � An expert with the Headquarters of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) implementation said that the European Union�s recent decision on Iran was merely an annual updating of the United Nations Security Council�s pre-existing list of sanctions, with no new sanctions added against any Iranian individual and institute.


Foreign Ministry�s General Diplomacy and Media Center announced on Sunday regretted that certain local media outlets have claimed that the EU has slapped new sanctions on a number of Iranian individuals and institutes.

Describing those reports as �completely unfounded and fabricated news,� the Foreign Ministry expert stressed that updating of sanctions
�only pertains to those Iranian individuals and institutes which were under sanctions from 2008-2011 under illegitimate resolutions of the UN Security Council for their alleged involvement in Iran�s missile program and the EU considers itself bound to comply with the sanctions under its regulations.�

According to the JCPOA, in addition to nearly 1,000 Iranian individuals, companies, shipping lines and airline which have been excluded from the list of sanctions, certain persons will also be delisted on the Transition Day (almost six years later) based on the second part of the second appendix attached to the JCPOA.

The expert further noted that the names of Sepah Bank, and International Sepah Bank which were excluded from the UN Security Council�s list of sanctions on the implementation day of the landmark nuclear deal (January 20, 2016) have also been left out in the updated version of EU sanctions.

Under the 2015 landmark nuclear deal reached between Iran and six world major powers, Tehran accepted constraints on certain aspects of its nuclear program in return for relief from international nuclear sanctions.