The Iran war reveals the insanity of the EU sanctions on Russian gas and oil

 

Putin warning fuels calls in EU to drop sanctions

Losing Russian gas supplies amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East has raised concerns over the bloc’s energy security

Russian President Vladimir Putin. © Sputnik / Mikhail Metzel

EU politicians are stepping up calls to roll back Russia sanctions after President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow could halt gas supplies ahead of a planned 2027 ban. It has raised concerns over the bloc’s energy security amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, and Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini have repeatedly condemned the sanctions, saying they hurt the EU’s economy.

In Germany, Sahra Wagenknecht, leader of the BSW party, has called for resuming imports of Russian oil to ease prices, while Alice Weidel, co-chair of the AfD, has urged an end to a one-sided reliance on the US and the Middle East for LNG.

Florian Philippot, the leader of France’s Patriots party shared a video of Putin’s remarks on X on Thursday. The French politician blasted the bloc’s Russia sanctions as “idiotic” and “ruinous” for Europeans and insisted they amount to collective self-harm.

European gas prices hit a three-year high this week after the US-Israeli campaign against Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes across the Middle East disrupted crude and LNG shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime choke point. This caused Qatar, the world’s second-largest LNG exporter, to halt production.

The EU gets between 5% and 15% of its total gas supplies from Middle Eastern sources, primarily Qatar. The US is currently the bloc’s dominant LNG supplier with a 60% share.

Last month, the EU agreed to ban all gas imports from Russia, once the bloc’s largest supplier, by late 2027. The measure was designed to be approved by a “reinforced majority” of countries using trade and energy laws, rather than as a sanctions measure requiring unanimous approval. It came despite opposition from Hungary and Slovakia.

READ MORE: Russia could end gas supplies to EU immediately – Putin

Putin said this week that Moscow may pull out of the EU gas market and redirect supplies to “reliable” partners without waiting for Brussels’ planned phase out of Russian imports to take effect. The energy crisis in the bloc is the result of its “misguided policies” over many years, he stated.

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Economics in Europe > US sanctions on Balkans will lead to serious economic problems; Germans resent Germany's generous welfare for Ukrainians

 

Serbia is one of many landlocked Balkan countries with no seaport with which to import gas and oil. America's sanctions are heartless and will lead to economic collapse in the Balkans if not all of Europe.

US sanctions on Balkan nation’s oil imminent – president  

Serbia is facing a fuel crisis as a new last-minute waiver on Russian ownership of the NIS company is unlikely, Aleksandar Vucic has said

President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic. ©  Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Serbia is unlikely to receive another US waiver from sanctions targeting its oil sector due to its partial Russian ownership, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday, adding that the nation could soon face a fuel crisis.

Washington has granted Belgrade several temporary exemptions from additional restrictions it imposed in January on the NIS oil company, in which Russia’s Gazprom and Gazprom Neft together hold a majority stake. The most recent waiver, issued on October 1, is valid for just one week.

Vucic said on national television on Sunday he believed that no last-minute reprieve was forthcoming, unless he nationalized NIS – a path he said he was reluctant to take.

“We have been working on it for 10 months, we are trying to find a solution and still there is none,” the Serbian leader said. Should a crisis unfold, he added, the country would face a gasoline price hike, but the situation would not be as dire as in the 1990s, when people had to “pour fuel from bottles or buckets.”

Serbia has resisted Western pressure to fully align its foreign policy with that of the European Union, even as it seeks membership in the bloc. Brussels and Washington have repeatedly nudged Belgrade to sever its energy ties with Moscow, a key historical partner. The Vucic government has also accused Western nations of fueling mass protests in Serbia.

READ MORE: Violence erupts during student protest in Serbia (VIDEOS)

Several EU states, including Hungary and Slovakia, have voiced similar concerns over Brussels’ pressure to reject Russian crude. Tensions escalated earlier this year after Ukrainian forces struck sections of the Druzhba pipeline network that supplies oil to eastern Europe.

In January, Hungary and Serbia announced they would speed up the connection of Serbian consumers to the Druzhba system.

Most Germans oppose welfare payments for Ukrainians – poll

66% of respondents are against granting Ukrainian migrants unemployment benefits, an INSA poll has found

FILE PHOTO. Refugees from Ukraine stand by a bus at the initial reception center for refugees in Hesse, Germany. ©  Boris Roessler/Getty Images

A majority of Germans oppose granting social welfare payments to unemployed Ukrainian migrants, according to an INSA survey commissioned by Bild newspaper.

The poll, published on Saturday, found broad dissatisfaction with government policy towards Ukrainian migrants. Only 17% of respondents say Ukrainians who fled to Germany after the escalation of the conflict with Russia should receive payments under the ‘Burgergeld’ scheme (citizens’ income), while 66% oppose the idea.

According to Bild, Germany spends around €6.3 billion ($6.8 billion) annually on Burgergeld for 700,000 Ukrainians. Only one in three Ukrainians living in Germany has a job, the paper said, adding that many of those who arrived since 2022 have not integrated into the labor market.

Read more

 Switzerland launches crackdown on Ukrainian migrants

Burgergeld is Germany’s central welfare scheme which provides income support to adults unable to sustain themselves through work or insurance-based programs. Often described as a last-resort measure, it pays around €563 ($610) per month for a single adult, while rent and utilities are covered separately.

The INSA survey also suggested that 62% of Germans believe able-bodied Ukrainian men who entered Germany after the escalation of the conflict should return to their homeland, with 18% taking the opposing view. In an attempt to address manpower issues on the front, Ukrainian officials have urged these men to return and join the fight – but EU states, including Germany, have refused to deport them.

More than 4.3 million people who fled Ukraine hold temporary protection in the EU, according to Eurostat, with Germany hosting around 1.2 million, the largest number in the bloc.

Faced with high expenses associated with migrant support, the German government is planning to reduce costs for newly arriving Ukrainians by moving them from Burgergeld to the lower-paying Asylum Seekers’ Benefits Act, a measure expected to cut payments by €100 per person each month.

Middle East Madness > Gaza war will not end until Hamas disarms - Bibi; Europe snaps sanctions back on Iran's nuclear program

 

Netanyahu says Gaza war will not end until Hamas disarms

Middle East

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel's war on Gaza would not end until Hamas disarms in a Saturday night TV interview. It came as the US State Department said it had "credible reports" that Hamas was planning an attack against Gaza civilians, warning that would be a "ceasefire violation". No details of the threat were provided.

Hamas will not disarm until they are all dead - the writing is on the wall! Or is it? Maybe they are holding out for a big, fat paycheck?

The war in Gaza would not be over until Hamas was disarmed and the Palestinian territory demilitarised, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Saturday.

On Sunday, Israel announced the identity of one of two dead hostages returned by Hamas the previous day as 54-year-old Ronen Engel.

The military "informed the family of hostage Ronen Engel... that their loved one has been returned to Israel and his identification has been completed", Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

Israel would spare no effort "until all the fallen hostages are repatriated", it added.

The issue of the dead hostages still in Gaza has become a sticking point in the implementation of the first phase of the ceasefire. Israel has linked the reopening of the key Rafah crossing to the territory to the recovery of the hostages' remains.

Netanyahu cautioned that completing the ceasefire's second phase was essential to ending the war and involved the disarming of Hamas and the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip.

"When that is successfully completed – hopefully in an easy way, but if not, in a hard way – then the war will end," he added in an appearance on right-wing Israeli Channel 14.

Hamas has so far resisted the idea and since the pause in fighting has moved to reassert its control over Gaza.

The US State Department on Saturday said it had "credible reports" that Hamas was planning an imminent attack against civilians in Gaza, warning that would be a "ceasefire violation".

"Should Hamas proceed with this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire," it said in a statement, without elaborating on the nature or target of such an attack.

Rafah crossing closed

Under the ceasefire deal brokered by US President Donald Trump, Hamas has so far released all 20 living hostages, along with the remains of nine Israelis and one Nepalese.

In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and 135 other bodies of Palestinians since the truce came into effect on October 10.

Hamas has said it needs time and technical assistance to recover the remaining bodies, which it says are buried under Gaza's rubble.

Netanyahu's office said he had "directed that the Rafah crossing remain closed until further notice".

"Its reopening will be considered based on how Hamas fulfils its part in returning the hostages and the bodies of the deceased, and in implementing the agreed-upon framework," it said, referring to the week-old ceasefire deal.

Hamas warned late Saturday that the closure of the Rafah crossing would cause "significant delays in the retrieval and transfer of remains".

Digging latrines

Further delays to the reopening could also complicate the task facing Tom Fletcher, the UN head of humanitarian relief, who was in northern Gaza on Saturday.

"To see the devastation – this is a vast part of the city, just a wasteland – and it's absolutely devastating to see," he told AFP.

Fletcher said the task ahead for the UN and aid agencies was a "massive, massive job".

He said he had met residents returning to destroyed homes who were trying to dig latrines in the ruins.

"We have a massive 60-day plan now to surge in food, get a million meals out there a day, start to rebuild the health sector, bring in tents for the winter, get hundreds of thousands of kids back into school."

Gaza killings continue

Some violence has persisted despite the ceasefire. 

Gaza's civil defence agency, which operates under Hamas authority, said on Saturday that it had recovered the bodies of nine Palestinians – two men, three women and four children – from the Shaaban family after Israeli troops fired two tank shells at a bus.

Two more victims were blown apart in the blast and their remains have yet to be recovered, it said.

At Gaza City's Al-Ahli Hospital, the victims were laid out in white shrouds as their relatives mourned.

"My daughter, her children and her husband; my son, his children and his wife were killed. What did they do wrong?" demanded grandmother Umm Mohammed Shaaban.

The Israeli military said it had fired on a vehicle that approached the so-called "yellow line", to which its forces withdrew under the terms of the ceasefire, and gave no estimate of casualties.

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Europe imposes 'snapback' sanctions on Iran's nuclear program

By Mark Moran

   

Soldiers carrying the coffin of slain Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh during funeral procession inside the Iranian defense ministry in Tehran, Iran, in 2020. European nations imposed "snapback" sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program. File photo by Iranian Defense Ministry/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A decade after they were lifted, economic and military sanctions were reimposed on Iran Sunday over its nuclear program.

Britain, France and Germany have accused Iran of "continued nuclear escalation," and reactivated what is known as a "snapback mechanism" over Iran's lack of cooperation to de-escalate the country's nuclear program.

Iran suspended inspections of its nuclear facilities under terms of a 2015 deal after Israel and the United States bombed several of the country's nuclear sites in June.

Iranian President Masound Pezeshkian has continued to maintain that his country has no intentions of developing nuclear weapons, and made the claim again last week.

Related

• Britain, Germany, France say they'll trigger 'snapback' sanctions on Iran
• Britain, Germany, France threat Iran sanctions over nuclear talks

Pezeshkian has called the reimposition of sanctions "unfair, unjust and illegal," and a setback to Iran's fledgling relations with the West.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action limits Iran's nuclear facilities, stockpiles of enriched uranium and the amount of research it is allowed to undertake. It allows Iran to develop nuclear infrastructure, but not weapons.

Iran escalated its nuclear program after President Donald Trump pulled out of the JCPOA during his first term in 2018.

European negotiators told the U.N. Security Council in August that Iran had violated "the near entirety of its JCPOA commitments," and gave the country a month's warning to scale back its nuclear program before Russia assumed control of the Security Council in October.

Several meetings with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi have produced no progress in meeting key European demands, including evidence that Iran is working on a diplomatic solution, complying with inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency and disclosing the whereabouts of more than 400 kg of highly enriched uranium.

The European nations have also called for resumed talks between Iran and the United States.

Economics > Fitch downgrades France's credit score to record low; Russian sanctions crippling Finnish economy

 

Fitch hits France with record-low credit score

The agency linked the cut to growing political instability

© Getty Images / Andrea Pistolesi

France’s credit score has been downgraded from AA- to A+, the country’s lowest on record, with Fitch Ratings citing political instability and uncertainty over how the government will rein in mounting debt and budget deficit.

The EU’s second-largest economy has one of the bloc’s highest debt levels after Greece and Italy, at about 113% of GDP. Its deficit is projected at 5.4-5.8% this year, well above the EU’s 3% limit. The downgrade followed last week’s ouster of Prime Minister Francois Bayrou after a failed confidence vote on his €44 billion austerity plan, which sought to cut the deficit and debt by slashing public-sector jobs, curbing welfare, and scrapping two public holidays.

“The government’s defeat in a confidence vote illustrates the increased fragmentation and polarization of domestic politics,” Fitch said on Friday. “This instability weakens the political system’s capacity to deliver substantial fiscal consolidation.”

READ MORE: France headed for ‘black hole’ – financial expert

The agency said it was unlikely that France’s deficit would drop in the next several years and warned debt would rise further to 121% in 2027, citing the lack of “a clear horizon for debt stabilization” given political instability. Fitch added that high taxes and large social spending leave little room to stabilize finances, and cautioned that the 2027 presidential race will likely limit the potential for fiscal reforms.

Outgoing Finance Minister Eric Lombard said he has “taken note” of the downgrade but insisted the economy was strong. He blamed fiscal strains on interest rates that are “too high” and noted that new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, the fifth in less than two years, is already consulting parliament on a budget to restore public finances.

A downgrade usually raises borrowing costs by lifting bond yields. France’s ten-year yield climbed to 3.5% on Friday, near Italy’s, one of the bloc’s weakest performers. Higher yields could increase debt-servicing costs, analysts warned, which Bayrou previously said were already at an “unbearable” level.

READ MORE: French debt a danger to Eurozone – DW

Some experts also warned that the downgrade could prompt similar cuts by other agencies, triggering forced selling by institutional investors barred from holding debt below AA.

Finnish PM admits economic pain from Russia sanctions

Trade has been largely scrapped and billions in investments lost, Petteri Orpo has said

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo. © Getty Images / Pier Marco Tacca

Finland’s economic growth has suffered due to sanctions on Russia linked to the Ukraine conflict, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo has admitted. He noted that Finland has lost nearly all trade with Russia and billions in investments since it closed the border with its neighbor.

Finland, which shares a 1,300km (800-mile) border with Russia, has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow in line with EU policy since 2022. It has also tightened entry rules for Russian citizens and shut all but one border checkpoint with its neighbor. The moves saw trade between the two countries drop to $1.5 billion in 2024, compared with $11 billion in pre-conflict 2021.

In an interview with Yle Areena on Saturday, Orpo acknowledged that sanctions have hit Finland harder than most EU members due to its traditionally close trade ties with Russia.

READ MORE: Finnish president says country won war with USSR

“The fact that the border is closed means, for example, 10 million cubic meters of Russian timber for our industry is not coming in. Finnish companies have lost billions in investments in Russia. Nearly all border traffic and trade have stopped,” Orpo said. “That brings uncertainty. All this has led to the fact that the growth of the Finnish economy has not been as desired.”

And all because you believed the lie that Russia was an imminent threat to you and the rest of Europe. Silly people! Now it is you who are a threat to Russia.

Despite this, Orpo echoed other NATO members in claiming Russia remains a “permanent threat” to Finland and the EU, vowing to increase defense spending and militarization to counter it. Finland joined NATO in 2023, a step Moscow – which views the bloc’s expansion as a trigger of the Ukraine conflict – called a “historic mistake.”

Russia has repeatedly rejected claims it poses a threat, accusing the West of fueling Russophobia to justify military buildups and divert attention from domestic problems. It has condemned Western sanctions as illegal and warned they would backfire.

READ MORE: EU-Russia ties can’t be fully repaired – Finland

The Finnish economy slipped into recession in both 2023 and 2024. According to Eurostat, its growth projections for 2025 are the lowest in the EU.