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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday said the European Union is working on new punitive measures against Tehran as the death toll from a crackdown on anti-government protests rises.<\/p>\n
“The rising number of casualties in Iran is horrifying,” von der Leyen wrote on social media.<\/p>\n
“I unequivocally condemn the excessive use of force and continued restriction of freedom,” she said.<\/p>\n
The Oslo-based human rights group Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) says at least 648 people have been killed since the protests erupted in December.<\/p>\n
IHRNGO said that some estimates put the toll at over 6,000, while more than 10,000 are believed to have been arrested.<\/p>\n
Von der Leyen said that “further sanctions on those responsible for the repression will be swiftly proposed.”<\/p>\n
“We stand with the people of Iran who are bravely marching for their liberty.”<\/p>\n
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, also sharply condemned the crackdown on protesters during a visit to Berlin on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
“The regime has a track record of brutally suppressing protests, and no one knows what the next days will bring,” Kallas said during a meeting with German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius.<\/p>\n
“The heavy-handed and brutal response by the security forces is unacceptable and exposes a regime afraid of its own people,” she said, echoing von der Leyen’s remarks that the EU was working on additional sanctions.<\/p>\n
Iran has been gripped since December 28 by its most serious protest wave for years.<\/p>\n
What began as protests by shopkeepers over a sharp fall in the value of the Iranian rial and mounting economic hardship quickly spiralled into nationwide demonstrations against the country’s hardline Islamic rulers.<\/p>\n
The violence against protesters has reignited a debate in the EU about the possible classification of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.<\/p>\n
The government in Berlin said on Monday that Germany was committed to reaching an agreement on this issue.<\/p>\n
Von der Leyen stressed that the EU had previously imposed sanctions on the IRGC over human rights violations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n