European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday (April 27) that it was too early to drop sanctions imposed on Iran, Reuters reports.
"We think the dropping of sanctions would be too early," she said in Berlin at a meeting of the conservative CDU and its CSU Bavarian sister party, adding that the sanctions were in place due to Iran's suppression of its own population.
“In view of Iran, your question, we think the dropping of sanctions would be too early because there's a reason why the sanctions are imposed on Iran. And this reason is their behaviour towards their own population. 17,000 young people have been killed alone this year, the beginning of this year by the regime. It's the suppression of human rights, and specifically women rights, in Iran and many other topics that triggered the sanctions. We first have to see a change, a fundamental change in Iran, for the dropping of sanctions and therefore we think it's too early to drop sanctions,” von der Leyen added.
