News - Middle East: Iran has strongly condemned Australia’s sanctions against several Iranian senior officials, entities and companies allegedly over the country’s peaceful missile and drone programs.

Australia’s sanctions against Iran came on Tuesday a month after Tehran launched missile and drone attacks on the Israeli regime to punish it for an airstrike that killed Iranian generals in a diplomatic mission in Syria

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani slammed the silence of Australia and its allies in the face of Israel’s violations of international law and its recent attack on the Iranian embassy premises in Syria.

Kan'ani said this silence proves the double-standard approach adopted by Australia and its allies to developments in West Asia.

He said that Australia and its partners remained silent “regarding the aggressive action and violation of international laws and human rights by the Zionist regime in attacking the diplomatic headquarters of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”  

The spokesman said such an approach only encourages Israelis to further violate the rules of international law and commit more war crimes.

“The double-standard approach of Australia and its partners in the selective selection of international norms, not only does not help to reduce instability in the region, but by keeping silent against the Zionist regime's attack on diplomatic places, its provision of weapons in the brutal killing of the defenseless people of Gaza, the Israeli regime is violating international rules encourage more war crimes and lead the region to instability,” Kan'ani said.

“The main cause of tension and insecurity in the region is the occupation (Palestinian lands) and the criminal approach of the Zionist regime in killing the Palestinian people and the relentless support of the evil coalition, including Australia, to this regime,” he said.

Kan'ani added that Iran reserves the right to take reciprocal action in response to Canberra’s latest sanctions.

Earlier on Tuesday, the European Union (EU) expanded its sanctions regime to target Iran’s missile capabilities.

The European Council, a body that defines the EU's overall political direction and priorities, said in a Tuesday statement on its website that the sanctions regime on Iran had been expanded beyond current restrictions on the country’s drone production capabilities to also cover its missile program.

Tehran has said that its mid-April military operation against Israel was a legitimate response to the Israeli regime’s attack on Iran’s consulate in Syria’s Damascus on April 1.

Source: Press TV