New Zealand has imposed travel bans against members of Iran’s morality police and security forces while Australia imposes sanctions targeting those accused of human rights abuses, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday morning, sign up here.
Travel bans for members of Iranian security forces
This morning, prime minister Jacinda Ardern and foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta announced New Zealand will impose travel bans on members of the Iranian security forces connected to the death of Mahsa Amini and the violent response to the subsequent protests. Included in the ban are members of Iran’s morality police, the law enforcement command, and members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iran announced on Thursday that it had carried out the first execution of a protester convicted over the recent anti-government unrest. New Zealand already has a range of sanctions against Iranian individuals and companies by way of United Nations sanctions.
Australia adds Magnitsky sanctions to existing sanction regime
Australia has also imposed sanctions on Iran this weekend, with foreign minister Penny Wong adding Magnitsky-style sanctions against 13 individuals and two entities to the country’s existing autonomous sanctions regime. The sanctions are named for the measures taken against the Russian officials who were thought to be responsible for the death of Russian tax lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, in 2009. The Conversation has a good explainer on what Magnitsky sanctions are and whether they work, but they differ from traditional sanctions that target nation states by targeting individuals and entities accused of perpetrating human rights abuses.
Promise of wider autonomous sanctions legislation in NZ falls by the wayside
New Zealand does not have an autonomous sanctions regime nor have we adopted Magnitsky laws. There have been calls for New Zealand to have both. When the Russia Sanctions Act was passed in March, Nanaia Mahuta said she would be “stewarding through” a broader autonomous sanctions bill, which would allow New Zealand to impose sanctions outside the United Nations system. As Stuff’s Thomas Manch reported in November, the government was considering whether it could sanction Iran through the Russia sanctions law, and the promise of wider autonomous sanctions legislation has fallen by the wayside.
US warns that Russia and Iran moving towards “a fully fledged defence partnership”
On Friday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby cited US intelligence reporting and said Russia was offering Iran “an unprecedented level of military and technical support that is transforming their relationship into a full-fledged defence partnership”. Ukraine has accused Russia of using Iranian drones in its attacks. After an initial denial, Iran later admitted it had supplied a “limited number” of drones to Russia before the invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky, who will address our parliament on Wednesday, has said this is a lie and that Ukraine was shooting down about 10 Iranian drones a day.