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BRUSSELS, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- The European Union and the Netherlands are on a confrontation course with Iran over the hanging of a Dutch-Iranian woman for drug trafficking.

Catherine Ashton, the European Union's top foreign policy official, condemned Iran's execution of 46-year-old Zahra Bahrami and deplored that officials in Tehran failed to grant her a "fair and transparent judicial process," Ashton's spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said Monday in Brussels.

Ashton wants Iran to "halt all pending executions immediately," Kocijancic said.

"The issue of human rights in Iran … will in the future be also a special point on the agenda of the EU foreign affairs council," the spokeswoman added, suggesting that the worsening human rights situation in the Islamic Republic could turn into another contentious issue with Iran, which has been at odds with the West over its nuclear program.