- 2 minutes ago
Europe Today: EU foreign ministers discuss fresh sanctions on Iran
Tune in to Euronews' new flagship morning programme, Europe Today, at 8 am Brussels time. In just 15 minutes, we bring you up to speed on the biggest news of the day.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/01/29/europe-today-eu-foreign-ministers-discuss-fresh-sanctions-on-iran
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
Tune in to Euronews' new flagship morning programme, Europe Today, at 8 am Brussels time. In just 15 minutes, we bring you up to speed on the biggest news of the day.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/01/29/europe-today-eu-foreign-ministers-discuss-fresh-sanctions-on-iran
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00.
00:05.
00:10.
00:15Good morning. It's Thursday, the 29th of January. You're watching
00:20Europe Today, your morning fix of European news and analysis.
00:25.
00:30.
00:35.
00:40.
00:45.
00:46.
00:50.
00:50attack as Trump ramps up pressure on the regime to strike a deal on its
00:55nuclear program standing by for us at the European Council down the road here
01:00Brussels where ministers are arriving right now is our EU correspondent Shauna Murray
01:05Shauna good morning thanks so much for joining us tell us first what can we expect today in terms
01:10of new sanctions on Iran well as
01:15you know Murray as you mentioned there Iran very much back center stage we saw that post yesterday
01:19from US president
01:20Donald Trump saying there's a massive armada on its way to Iran he's demanded they cut
01:25a deal on their nuclear program he's reminding them of last summer and his strikes against the regime
01:30under the code name operation midnight hammer meanwhile here in Brussels EU foreign affairs
01:35minister behind me they're going into that meeting they'll announce sanctions on 21 Iranian individuals
01:40responsible for the violent repression of Iranian protesters that's members of the
01:45Iranian Revolutionary Guard your news has the details on these sanctions they include people like the chief of
01:50police there's also going to be sanctions on 21 20 companies responsible for Iran
01:55Iran's new program in relation to drones and supporting Russia and there will be a designate
02:00combination of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization this was announced
02:05or decided just late last night after France which was holding out decided they would support this so
02:10we heard from Kaya Callas the EU's foreign policy chief agreeing and saying that this would happen today
02:15Mered and Shauna also the question of how Europe can prepare to defend
02:20itself in an increasingly dangerous world could also come up in these talks
02:25I believe we've lost
02:30Shona there but we did get that update on the sanctions that were expected
02:35the EU to announce including that blacklisting of the IRG
02:40which is the Iranian Revolutionary Guard we will hear more from Shona during the
02:45day here on Euronews but in the meantime we'll move on and we're now moving on to
02:50the NATO boss Mark Rutte his comments earlier this week have divided
02:55opinion across the continent continent our Jacob Yanis has been taking
02:59a closer look at who Mark Rutte really is
03:04Mark Rutte is on fire and his message to anyone who thinks
03:09the EU can survive militarily without the US keep on dreaming
03:14you can't and there is backlash but Rutte doesn't care why
03:19because he's the only European who speaks Trump's language but when he takes
03:24over
03:24off his glasses who is he really meet
03:29tough
03:31you
03:29not Mark
03:31he was the longest serving Dutch prime minister because absolutely not
03:34not
03:36not
03:38not
03:40not
03:42not
03:44not
03:46not
03:48not
03:50not
03:52not
03:54not
03:56not
03:58not
03:59not
04:26not
04:28not
04:29not
04:58not
04:59not
05:02not
05:03not
05:06not
05:08not
05:04We'll now be joined by Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.
05:09He led the country for a decade up until 2020.
05:14And he's, of course, a very familiar face here in Brussels and will be representing...
05:19...Luxembourg at the Foreign Affairs Council later today.
05:23Minister, thanks so much.
05:24Thank you for calling by. It's great to have you here with us in the studio.
05:26Thank you for the invitation.
05:27So I know you have a packed agenda.
05:29Let's start maybe with Iran because we are expecting some tougher decisions.
05:34By the EU today to clamp down and put pressure on the Iranian regime.
05:39When you go in a meeting, you hope, but you wait till the end to be happy.
05:44So I hope that we will be able today to agree because we need unanimity to...
05:49...put, for example, the Guardian of the Revolutions on a terrorist list.
05:54We need unanimity to take sanctions.
05:57We need unanimity to take a list of persons of...
05:59...entities, but it seems we had two or three days ago still some countries...
06:04...that we moved forward the last 48 hours.
06:09...and that we will be able to have a strong signal for the Iranian population.
06:14And this is the...
06:14...right signal, according to you, despite what it could mean for the diplomatic channels.
06:19Do you think this is the right move?
06:21The fact is we don't have that many moves.
06:24So...
06:24We are not working like the USA are working to send...
06:29...an Armada and to have the Armada waiting to bomb...
06:33And what do you make of those threats?
06:34...that we've heard from Trump yesterday.
06:36I, erm...
06:37Everything is possible.
06:38The fact is I learned one thing.
06:39You know, I was Prime Minister when the...
06:41...for the fourth first years of President Trump and now he's again...
06:44...the President, everything is possible.
06:46He's also trying to get a bigger role in the future of...
06:49...Gaza.
06:50I know that will also be under discussion.
06:51What do you make of his Board of Peace?
06:54The fact...
06:54The fact is if every progress for stabilization of the situation and a ceasefire...
06:59...in the final ceasefire, not a permanent ceasefire, not temporarily...
07:04...and then a strong government and support a bit of Gaza is something I support.
07:08But the problem is now...
07:09...for the moment we have a parallel UN.
07:11We have, in fact, a new private body, if I can say.
07:14...who will decide about the future of the territory.
07:17So it's a bit special and the Palestinians...
07:19...are missing.
07:20You have the Palestinians not around the table when it's going to be about that.
07:24You have a President, even if it's not President anymore, who has a veto right at life.
07:29And then you have Russia sitting around the table when it's a Board of Peace, you just called it.
07:34I just...
07:34I just want to remind that Russia is an aggressor in Ukraine.
07:37And so to give the feeling that they are...
07:39...and peacemakers is a bit special too.
07:41So you think this is less about the Palestinians and their future...
07:44...more about Trump trying to supplant the UN?
07:47The fact is, if it helps...
07:49I don't want to make everything bad if it brings positive aspects on the ground in politics...
07:54...of Palestine, I will help these points, but we need Palestinians around the table.
07:59But the fact is that Trump is a businessman, he wants to have results quickly...
08:04...for him, the UN is too complicated, but you know, I'm coming from a small country.
08:09If international law and international regulations are not respected anymore in future...
08:14...and it's the power of the strongest and the biggest, this is not good for me.
08:19Also for a lot of other countries, it's not good.
08:21He has been challenging the very rules.
08:24...on which the international order is now based, but with Ukraine, he has...
08:29...managed to get Russians and Ukrainians around the table.
08:32Does he deserve credit?
08:34Thank you for that.
08:35And shouldn't Europeans be doing more to get directly involved in these peace talks?
08:39I just want to remind that he was the first one to take President Putin out of the isolation.
08:44He was bringing him to Alaska, where everybody was saying we need to show that we don't want to work with him.
08:49So he was...
08:49That's the first one.
08:50We need a talk, someone able to talk with Russia.
08:53But the fact is...
08:54...
08:54Because I just want to remind that he said I think it was 24, 48 hours when he was coming in office...
08:59...
08:59...that he would find a solution.
09:00And a solution cannot be humiliation of Ukrainians.
09:03Too many people...
09:04But you do think...
09:04I think it's time for direct talks with President Putin.
09:07Should Europe be sending an envoy to...
09:09These talks?
09:10If we don't have talks, we want to find solutions.
09:12You know, I had to...
09:14The talks with President Putin and President Zelensky.
09:16Yes.
09:17Three years ago when I was still the Prime Minister.
09:19And every...
09:19...a week.
09:20And we had good talks.
09:21But I have to admit that I had some questions from other European countries who didn't...
09:24...want me to have these talks.
09:25They told me...
09:26Luxembourg, what?
09:27Is Luxembourg to be able to have these talks?
09:28That's a big error.
09:29Because this is...
09:30It's the question of human relations, not the question of the size of the country who makes...
09:34...the difference.
09:35And on the other hand, Butcher happened.
09:36And after Butcher, I was not able to have these talks.
09:39Anymore with President Putin.
09:40But we need to talk with them if we want a solution.
09:42If we can't talk...
09:44...to them, we won't find a solution.
09:45And if I was too small to do it, if then President Macron...
09:49...or someone else is able to represent Europe because they don't want to talk to...
09:52...to Kayakalas, but...
09:54But we...
09:55I think without talks, we won't find solutions.
09:57So, Macron, anyone else...
09:59...you think in the continent who could represent...
10:01You seem to know Putin.
10:02You've met him in Moscow.
10:04Would you be willing to take on this role?
10:07You know, I don't have the ego to say that I'm...
10:09...the right person to do it.
10:10But if people are convinced that I could be helpful, I will do it in any position.
10:14I don't need to be on the front of the scene.
10:16I can do it also on the back, you know, when I had talks with...
10:19...President Putin and President Zelensky.
10:21I didn't speak that much about it.
10:24But then when there was a press statement from the Kremlin...
10:29...it was difficult to deny anything, so...
10:31But if I can be useful, I love to be useful, but I don't...
10:34...I don't have the ego to say that I'm needed.
10:36Meanwhile, of course, the Ukraine war is raging on and...
10:39...Europe is really having to think about its future, the transatlantic relationship in...
10:44...after the recent threat over Greenland and so on.
10:46How do you see the future and what do you make of macro...
10:49...the future's comments earlier this week that Europe can keep on dreaming if you think it can go alone?
10:53If it's not...
10:54Now.
10:55It's like now.
10:56For me, in fact, Europe has a wake-up call also because of...
10:59...President Trump.
11:00In fact, I see that we have rules when everything is in honeymoon.
11:05Who represents Europe?
11:06I see Kayakalas was, for example, only in Washington when there was a discussion...
11:09...with the president.
11:10It's her job.
11:11So I think it would be important to see how we could have also legitimate...
11:14...that for the next European elections or the president of the Commission or the president of the Council...
11:19...should be someone who's got the legitimacy also from the electives.
11:22That would be in elections and then...
11:24...they could be directly elected.
11:25So to be the one who can try to form the next...
11:29...commission and then they still need a majority in Parliament.
11:32But so that we have a president of...
11:34...of Europe who is really the strong person.
11:36We are absent.
11:37You know, there are discussions in some countries...
11:39...about Ukraine.
11:40Europe is not there.
11:41We're going to have to leave it there, Minister.
11:42Thank you so much.
11:43We hope to get you back.
11:44...in the studio very soon.
11:46Now, moving on.
11:47Public backlash is...
11:49...growing in Italy over the US's decision to send officers from its ICE...
11:54...immigration agency to the Winter Olympics next week.
11:57ICE agents were involved in...
11:59...the fatal shooting in Minneapolis over the weekend.
12:02For more, we can cross over to our...
12:04...correspondent Giorgia Orlandi standing by first in Rome.
12:07Giorgia, good morning.
12:09Give us a sense of what the reaction has been to all of this in Italy.
12:14Good morning.
12:15Well, it all started last Tuesday when members of Italy's main...
12:19...opposition party in Lombardy's regional council held a formal protest...
12:24...again, the decision to deploy ICE agents at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
12:29...in the Olympic Games.
12:30They were holding posters, reading ICE out, ICE no thank you.
12:33That pretty much aligned...
12:34...with what Milan's mayor, Bepa Salah, had to say about that.
12:37He said that those agents are not welcome in...
12:39...in Milan.
12:40We know that AVS, another party, launched a petition which has...
12:44...already gathered around 50,000 signatures.
12:46Criticism has also come from Italy's main...
12:49...a ruling coalition and we know that those ICE agents have been deployed at...
12:54...major sports events in the past, not just in the US but abroad as well.
12:58The US Department...
12:59...the government of Homeland Security said that those agents would not be taking part in...
13:04...immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries.
13:07Despite all these assurances though...
13:09...the protest has not died down...
13:12...to ICEAT protests...
13:14...have already been organised in the next few days...
13:16...by centre-left organisations and trade unions.
13:19The main argument behind the protest though is that...
13:22...Georgia Maloney is perceived as too...
13:24...accommodating towards President Trump and the United States.
13:27This is what centre-left...
13:29...parties say and she has shifted her tone recently.
13:34...trying to, well, when she described those Trump threats over Greenland...
13:39...as a mistake but clearly when it comes to high-profile events such as the Olympic...
13:44...games with Italy being under so much scrutiny and international exposure.
13:49...while the issue is turning into a major reputational problem for Maloney and her government.
13:54...if the protests continue.
13:55Okay.
13:56Georgia, thank you so much.
13:58And that brings...
13:59...this edition of Europe Today...
14:01...to an end.
14:02Thank you for tuning in.
14:03For more on today's...
14:04...stories, do head over to our website, euronews.com.
14:07We'll be back...
14:08...same time.
14:09...same place tomorrow.
14:10See you then.
14:14See you then.
14:19See you then.
Comments