Court rules against EU sanctions on Iran


The European Union (EU)’s general court has annulled sanctions on seven Iranian companies and one individual. The court in Luxembourg ruled there was insufficient evidence to justify sanctions on several companies – Post Bank Iran, Iran Insurance Company, Good Luck Shipping, and the Export Development Bank of Iran – and that the EU had erred in its assessments of Persia International Bank, the Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company and Naser Bateni, managing director of Hamburg-based Hanseatic Trade, Trust & Shipping. Bank Refah Kargaran’s appeal was also upheld on the basis that the EU’s claim it had taken over operations from a previously sanctioned bank, Bank Melli, lacked detail.