In what seemed to be fresh diplomatic pressure on Iran, the European Union announced Jan. 8 that it was freezing assets belonging to a unit of Iran's Intelligence Ministry and two of its officials. But that's not where it came to an end. The Netherlands also leveled accusations against Iran, saying Tehran had plotted two murders on its soil. In doing so, Dutch officials joined French and Danish counterparts in implicating Iran in alleged attacks on European soil.

The EU sanctions are the first European punitive measure against Iran since Tehran inked the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with major powers in 2015. Under the deal, the EU had committed to nullifying a series of sanctions it had imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program.

The European announcement, pushed by the Danish government, was made as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is on a hectic three-day diplomatic visit to New Delhi to negotiate expanded trade with India in an effort to mitigate the impacts of US sanctions reimposed following Washington's withdrawal from the JCPOA in May 2018.

“Europeans, [including] Denmark, Holland & France, harbor [Mujahedeen-e-Khalq] — who killed 12,000 Iranians & abetted Saddam's crimes against Iraqi Kurds — as well as other terrorists staging murder of innocent Iranians from Europe," Zarif wrote on his Twitter account to hit back at the Europeans, who he said "won't absolve responsibility for harboring terrorists.”