Everyone against Tehran? Not at all: Three countries in Europe broke ranks
Three countries that are candidates for membership in the European Union did not adopt the latest round of sanctions against Tehran. In Iran, they are celebrating the crack in the front, but in Brussels, they see this as a sign of deeper political gaps.
Georgia, Serbia, and Turkey are not aligning with the latest round of European sanctions against Iran, according to European Union announcements and statements published in recent days. In Tehran, they were quick to highlight Georgia's position today, against the backdrop of the Iranian effort to present cracks in the European front against the Islamic Republic.
The official Iranian news agency IRNA reported today that Georgia refused to join the new EU sanctions. The report quoted member of parliament Tengiz Sharmanashvili from the ruling "Georgian Dream" party, who said that Tbilisi's foreign policy decisions are made based on one question only: whether they serve Georgia's interests at that time. He added that Georgia is not the only candidate country that is not joining the measures, and mentioned Serbia and Turkey.
These remarks are consistent with the European Council's announcement from August 14. Brussels announced that Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, and Ukraine have adopted the latest European decisions concerning Iran. Georgia, Serbia, and Turkey did not appear on the list.
The EU decisions, approved on July 24, keep in force restrictive measures against Iranian individuals and entities, as well as sanctions related to Tehran's military support for Russia, for armed organizations in the Middle East and the Red Sea, and for actions that harm freedom of navigation in the region. In the case of Serbia, it is a policy that is not uniform. Belgrade actually joined other EU decisions regarding sanctions on Iran in March, but did not adopt the three new decisions from July. According to the Serbian website N1, it was the only candidate country in the Western Balkans that did not do so.
Turkey, which is also a candidate country for EU membership, also does not appear among the countries that adopted the latest round. Ankara conducts an independent foreign policy towards Iran and avoids fully aligning its foreign policy with Brussels.
The Iranian report tries to present Georgia's position as proof of European disunity, but in practice, these are three countries that are not members of the EU and are not legally obligated to adopt its sanctions policy. However, from Brussels' perspective, the degree of alignment with the common foreign and security policy is considered an important metric in the process of joining the EU, and therefore the abstention also reflects wider political gaps.
