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The EU will “quickly” propose new sanctions against Iran after several people have recently been killed in protests in the country.
This is written by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in a post on the social media platform X.
“The rising number of victims in Iran is horrible. I unequivocally condemn the excessive use of force and the continued restriction of freedom. Further sanctions against those responsible for the repression will be proposed quickly,” she writes on X.
The demonstrations in Iran began on 28 December. Iranians took to the streets to show their dissatisfaction with the country being hit by extremely high inflation.
Since then, the protests have developed into a general criticism of the clerical regime, which has ruled the country since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
At least 648 protesters have been killed in the protests, according to the human rights organization Iran Human Rights (IHR), based in Norway, on Monday.
But the number may be much higher, the organization believes.
An unnamed person from Iran’s government has told Reuters that the death toll is around 2000 people. This has not been confirmed.
Since Thursday, Iran has been hit by a nationwide shutdown of the internet.
This has limited the ability to determine the full extent of the demonstrations and the number of those killed.
The EU has previously sanctioned several hundred Iranian officials for cracking down on earlier protest movements as well as for Iran’s support for Russia’s war against Ukraine, writes the news agency AFP.
In the post on X, von der Leyen repeats that the EU has already placed the Revolutionary Guard on a sanctions list with asset freezes due to human rights violations.
“We stand together with the Iranian people, who are bravely fighting for their freedom,” writes the President of the European Commission on X.