{"id":41498,"date":"2026-04-24T13:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T13:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/41498\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T13:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T13:51:11","slug":"kallas-calls-for-21st-russia-sanctions-package-and-broader-iran-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/41498\/","title":{"rendered":"Kallas Calls For 21st Russia Sanctions Package And Broader Iran Talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking on\u00a0arrival at the informal EU summit in Nicosia,<\/a>\u00a0Kallas said Thursday\u2019s discussions focused on the international crises facing the EU, starting with\u00a0Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She described the agreement on a \u20ac90 billion loan to Ukraine and the adoption of the 20th sanctions package against Russia as good news, and said prime ministers had pushed for work to continue on a 21st package to send a very clear message to Russia that it cannot outlast the EU and that the Union will continue to support Ukraine.<\/p>\n

On the Middle East, Kallas said the wars in the region were affecting all member states and that the EU needed to consider what more it could do for peace and stability.<\/p>\n

She said she was concerned that negotiations with Iran were focusing solely on the nuclear issue, and that any agreement also needed to cover Tehran\u2019s missile programme and its support for armed groups in the region.<\/p>\n

Asked about the possible lifting of sanctions on Iran, she warned that if talks were confined to the nuclear issue without the involvement of nuclear experts, any deal could prove weaker than the JCPOA. If Iran\u2019s missile programme, its support for armed groups, and its hybrid and cyber activities in Europe were not addressed, she said, \u201cwe will end up with a more dangerous Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kallas said freedom of navigation was non-negotiable and that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open without tolls. She said the existing EU operations Aspides and Atalanta, already deployed in the region, could be reinforced with ships, assets and capabilities as the fastest way to support a coalition of the willing.<\/p>\n

On regional partners, Kallas said the EU planned to deepen its engagement with Syria, with a high-level political dialogue at foreign ministers\u2019 level scheduled for May. She said Europe could assist Syria on constitutional and institution-building matters, while stressing the need for inclusive governance and addressing the concerns of various communities, including Christians.<\/p>\n

On Lebanon, she said the country\u2019s armed forces needed more assistance to disarm Hezbollah and strengthen state control. She also said the EU was keen to hear Jordan\u2019s assessment of the war, given Amman\u2019s support for Palestine and Palestinian refugees.<\/p>\n

Kallas said EU foreign and\u00a0defence ministers had discussed whether the Union could establish<\/a>\u00a0its own mission after UNIFIL\u2019s mandate expires \u2014 not with the same mandate, but aimed at meeting Lebanon\u2019s current needs.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Source: CNA\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Speaking on\u00a0arrival at the informal EU summit in Nicosia,\u00a0Kallas said Thursday\u2019s discussions focused on the international crises facing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140],"tags":[26757,5651,26759,17976,6528,4940,34,442,914,26758,329,1434,5670],"class_list":{"0":"post-41498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kaja-kallas","8":"tag-21st","9":"tag-and","10":"tag-broader","11":"tag-calls","12":"tag-cyprus-mirror","13":"tag-for","14":"tag-iran","15":"tag-kaja-kallas","16":"tag-kallas","17":"tag-package","18":"tag-russia","19":"tag-sanctions","20":"tag-talks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116460013789800918","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}