The European Union’s decision to add eight Iranian security officials and three entities to its list of sanctions over human rights violations has drawn strongly worded statements of condemnation from the Islamic Republic.

On April 14, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif slammed the move as "shameful" and criticized the European bloc for “giving in to pressure from hard-line groups” in the United States and Israel.

The EU on Monday updated its list of Iranians sanctioned over human rights violations. Among the new eight individuals is Hossein Salami, the powerful chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Those officials are accused of spearheading the brutal crackdown on anti-government demonstrations sparked by increased fuel prices in November 2019, which according to Amnesty International left over 300 people dead.

Another sanctioned individual is Leyla Vaseghi, the female governor of Shahr-e-Ghods, an impoverished town 32 kilometers west of the capital, Tehran. Days after the unrest was crushed, Vaseghi sparked a massive backlash from the Iranian public by openly stating in a video that she had issued a shoot-to-kill order against anyone who would storm the premises of her office.