Image Credits: Wikipedia The European Union announced recent sanctions on two Iranians and a unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for threatening the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, which handles one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas shipments. This is the first time that the bloc used its new powers to sanction Iran for disrupting shipping in the strategic waterway. According to the EU’S written statement, Hormozgan Provincial Command ​of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy, Mohammad Akbarzadeh and Hamid Hosseini have been added to the list of newly sanctioned individuals and entities. Akbarzadeh is the Deputy Commander for Political Affairs of the IRGC Navy, and Hosseini is a representative of ​Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tehran does not care for the European Union’s “political and hypocritical” move. He emphasised that Tehran would continue its strategy of maintaining sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, which is the country’s natural right. Member States of the EU have also approved the sanctions against Iranian firms and individuals, Kaja Kallas, the ​EU’s ⁠foreign policy chief, said at a news conference in Cyprus. “This is the first time the EU has applied its new freedom of ⁠navigation ​regime, and when necessary, we will apply ​it again,” added Kallas.