On the brutal repression against protestors in Iran

B100071/2026

European Parliament resolution on the brutal repression against protestors in Iran

(2026/2565(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to its previous resolutions on Iran,

– having regard to the statement of 9 January 2026 by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on behalf of the EU on the situation in Iran,

– having regard to the joint declaration of 9 January 2026 of the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom on the situation in Iran,

– having regard to the statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General of 11 January 2026 on the Islamic Republic of Iran,

– having regard to the joint statement of 13 January 2026 by UN Special Rapporteurs and independent experts,

– having regard to the EU guidelines on violence against women and girls and combating all forms of discrimination against them,

– having regard to the awarding of the 2023 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Jina Mahsa Amini and the Women, Life, Freedom Movement in Iran,

– having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),

– having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

– having regard to the UN Charter,

– having regard to Rule 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas on 28 December 2025, demonstrations broke out in Iran and quickly developed into nationwide protests, with tens of thousands of Iranians pouring onto the streets across different cities and provinces as of 8 January 2026; whereas the demonstrations were initiated by bazaar merchants who closed their shops to protest against Iran’s faltering economy, their marginalisation within it, the collapse of the currency and the erosion of living standards, and they evolved into nationwide anti-government protests representing a wide spectrum of Iranian society;

B. whereas according to analysts and human rights groups, the ongoing protests in Iran constitute the most intense unrest since the Women, Life, Freedom movement of 2022-23, reflecting widespread anger not only at economic hardship but at the ruling system itself;

C. whereas according to the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran, credible reports indicate that the Supreme National Security Council issued a statement ordering the security forces to wage a ‘decisive’ crackdown to end the protests;

D. whereas forces of the Iranian regime violently clamped down on the protests, carrying out large-scale killings across the country; whereas Iranian security forces fired live ammunition directly at protesters, unlawfully, deliberately and often at close range, and used batons and tear gas to kill, punish and coerce demonstrators; whereas videos emerging from Iran showed horrifying images of masses of wounded people and of mortuaries with body bags containing the bodies of demonstrators who had been killed; whereas according to the UN fact-finding mission, state violence was particularly brutal in ethnic minority regions;

E. whereas Iranian security forces have killed more than 3 000 protesters, including children, according to the Norway-based non-governmental organisation Iran Human Rights, and thousands have been injured across Iran; whereas the number of people killed is currently underestimated because an internet blackout is impeding communication; whereas Iranian civil society organisations, the media and the Iranian authorities have reported that the death toll has exceeded several thousand;

F. whereas since 8 January 2026, the Iranian authorities have imposed a country-wide communications blackout, cutting off internet access and shutting down mobile phone and landline networks in one of the most comprehensive and sophisticated blackouts in global history, hindering the ability of the Iranian people to communicate, organise and inform the outside world amid a brutal crackdown, with the aim of obscuring the true extent of the protests and the brutality of the crackdown and of hampering medical assistance; whereas Iran is a major perpetrator of internet shutdowns and has a long history of blocking internet and telecommunications access during times of unrest to silence dissent and crack down on protests;

G. whereas thousands of protesters and bystanders, including children, are being detained and risk being executed secretly and arbitrarily, because they are accused of being ‘enemies of God’, a charge that carries the death penalty; whereas state media broadcast the ‘confessions’ of individuals being held in detention facilities; whereas as the death toll rises, more than 30 national and international non-governmental organisations have raised the alarm about the dire situation of detained human rights defenders, including the violent arrests, arbitrary detention and reported ill treatment of Narges Mohammadi, Sepideh Qolian, Alieh Motalebzadeh, Javad Alikordi, Hasti Amiri, Pouran Nazemi and others following the memorial ceremony of 12 December 2025 in Mashhad;

H. whereas on 14 January 2026, Iran’s Justice Minister reportedly stated that anyone arrested after 8 January 2026 was a criminal and terrorist, effectively criminalising peaceful protest and further repressing freedom of expression and assembly; whereas such rhetoric endorses arbitrary arrests and mass prosecutions and is incompatible with Iran’s obligations under international human rights law;

I. whereas credible reports indicate that Erfan Soltani, a 26-year-old Iranian who was detained for his alleged participation in the protests, has been sentenced to death following expedited judicial proceedings;

J. whereas the Iranian regime, notably Ayatollah Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian, is attempting to delegitimise the protests and brand the protesters as rioters and foreign agents; whereas credible media reports claim that Iran has invited foreign militias into the country to crack down on the protests;

K. whereas the US administration has signalled that it may intervene militarily in Iran; whereas the Iranian regime has threatened retaliation against foreign intervention; whereas some international diplomatic and military personnel are being withdrawn from the region in preparation for potential military escalation;

L. whereas the EU has adopted three sanctions regimes against Iran: one in response to serious human rights violations in the country, renewed annually and last extended until 13 April 2026, one in relation to the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and the third in response to Iran’s military support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and for armed groups and entities in the Middle East and the Red Sea region; whereas via these regimes more than 230 individuals and 40 entities in Iran, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), are currently under sanction;

M. whereas the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) and representatives of EU Member States have announced their intention to impose new sanctions on individuals in the Iranian regime who are responsible for the violent crackdown on protesters and on companies involved in producing drone technology;

N. whereas public frustration in Iran has been mounting since the US administration’s decision, in 2018, to reimpose ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions on Iran, resulting in the steady erosion of state revenues, and widespread shortages that have prompted sharp increases in inflation and unemployment; whereas a growing share of Iran’s trade has moved into black markets, with economic mismanagement and corruption intensifying income inequality; whereas powerful networks, notably the IRGC, have consolidated their control over large segments of the economy, leaving most Iranians poor and resentful;

O. whereas the granting of asylum to Iranian nationals in the EU has sharply declined since 2023, despite the continuous violent repression in the country; whereas both Iranian asylum seekers whose claims were rejected and Iranian visitors with Schengen visas are at risk of deportation, in violation of the principle of non-refoulement;

P. whereas there is evidence that Iran deliberately uses transnational repression to oppress opposing voices abroad, notably within the EU;

Q. whereas credible evidence indicates that Iranian diplomatic representations in several Member States have been involved in propaganda, disinformation and intimidation targeting Iranian diaspora communities in Europe, in breach of international law and the principles governing diplomatic relations;

R. whereas Iran has a long history of evading sanctions;

1. Expresses its full solidarity with the people of Iran and its brave and legitimate protest movement which is demanding dignity, safety and respect for the rights of the Iranian people;

2. Calls on the Commission and the EU Member States to continue to condemn, publicly and privately, the Iranian regime’s violent crackdown on protests and to employ all diplomatic means to pressure Iranian authorities into stopping the killings and executions, releasing all detained protesters and restoring internet access and telecommunications;

3. Condemns the Iranian regime’s lethal crackdown on protests and urges the authorities to immediately stop the bloodshed, cease criminalising protesters and ordering state violence against them, and adhere to international humanitarian law; recalls that peaceful assembly is enshrined in the ICCPR, to which Iran is a party; calls on all those responsible for these grave human rights violations to be held to account in line with international law;

4. Demands that the Iranian authorities immediately and unconditionally release and drop any charges against anyone who is imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in connection with the protests; reiterates the EU’s long-standing opposition to capital punishment and warns the Iranian regime not to employ the death penalty against demonstrators;

5. Condemns the internet shutdowns deliberately imposed by the Iranian authorities and urges the Iranian Government to immediately restore full access to the internet and telecommunications services across the country; stresses that restricting internet access and disrupting messenger services seriously interferes with people’s rights to freedom of expression and assembly, as enshrined in the ICCPR;

6. Condemns the deliberate and widespread disruption of telecommunications services by the Iranian authorities, including the shutdown or throttling of mobile phone networks and landline and international telephone services; urges the Iranian Government to immediately restore full and reliable domestic and international telephone connectivity; stresses that the obstruction of telecommunications services constitutes a serious violation of the rights to freedom of expression, access to information and peaceful assembly, as guaranteed under the ICCPR, and further endangers access to emergency, medical and humanitarian assistance;

7. Reiterates its calls on Iran to grant immediate and unhindered access to the UN-mandated fact-finding mission, given the need for international scrutiny in this climate of total impunity in which the Iranian authorities have systematically committed serious crimes under international law, including murder, torture, rape and enforced disappearances to silence dissent, and the need for evidence to be collected and preserved to support future prosecutions;

8. Calls on the EU Member States and European External Action Service (EEAS) to request a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the human rights crisis in Iran to demonstrate and foster legitimate international opposition to the conduct of the Iranian regime; calls on the EU to support the extension of the mandate of the UN fact-finding mission on Iran in the Human Rights Council;

9. Emphasises that the people of Iran are highly dissatisfied with the Islamic Republic and demand change; insists that it is up to the Iranian people to determine their future government, with full respect for their right to self-determination as guaranteed by the UN Charter; calls, in this regard, for the EU to support all those who are working towards free and fair elections and a democratic future for Iran;

10. Welcomes the readiness of the VP/HR to propose additional sanctions against the Iranian regime in response to the brutal repression of the protests; calls on the Council and the Commission to ensure that all existing sanctions regimes are strictly implemented and to close possible loopholes for circumvention, particularly in relation to the ban on surveillance technology, crowd control and cyber forensics; reiterates its demand that EU restrictive measures be extended to all representatives of the Iranian Government who incite violence or are otherwise responsible for grave human rights violations, including the security forces and Iranian judges, prosecutors, prison governors and interrogators involved in violent repression, death sentences and executions; condemns Iranian-Russian cooperation on sanctions evasion, aided by third countries, and calls for the EU and its Member States to ensure close cooperation with like-minded partners on counteracting Iranian sanctions circumvention and conducting vigilant export control;

11. Reiterates its call on the Council to designate the IRGC a terrorist organisation; calls on the Council and the VP/HR to ensure full transparency in this regard, including by clearly setting out the positions and objections of individual Member States and the reasons that could prevent the adoption of that designation;

12. Calls on the Council and the Commission to strictly implement the freezing of assets of the Central Bank of Iran and of major Iranian commercial banks as agreed on 29 September 2025 and to follow the approach taken with regard to assets linked to the Russian state; stresses that such measures should be coordinated at EU level and implemented in accordance with international and EU law; considers asset freezes a key instrument with which to exert pressure on the Iranian authorities and prevent the use of EU-based resources to finance repression;

13. Condemns the systematic misuse by the Iranian regime of embassies, diplomatic missions and diplomatic privileges to conduct propaganda and disinformation activities and the intimidation, surveillance and transnational repression of Iranian nationals, civil society actors and political dissidents in the EU; states that those activities are in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and fundamental EU values; calls on the Member States, in the light of the extraordinary and escalating situation in Iran, to take coordinated diplomatic measures, including the expulsion of Iranian ambassadors or other accredited regime representatives and the closure of embassies or consular offices where there is credible evidence of their involvement in repression, intimidation, propaganda, disinformation or hybrid influence activities on European soil;

14. Calls on the Commission and the EEAS, together with the Member States, civil society and technical partners, to assess the feasibility of an EU-supported digital connectivity relief package for the Iranian people, which would include internet access, offline ad hoc networks and alternative communication infrastructure, such as ‘direct to cell’ connectivity, to ensure uninterrupted information access, particularly in order to enable emergency communication and alerts via SMS;

15. Calls on the Member States to facilitate emergency protection pathways for individuals at immediate risk, including humanitarian visas and temporary relocation schemes for protesters, journalists, artists, students and human rights defenders, and to ensure fair asylum procedures for all Iranian nationals seeking protection in the EU; encourages the Member States, in this context, to admit to EU hospitals and to treat Iranians who have been injured or tortured by the Iranian regime, including offering psychosocial support; calls on the Member States to ensure that Iranian nationals currently visiting or residing in the EU can prolong their visas until such time as their return to Iran poses no security threats to them; urges the Member States to temporarily suspend any asylum-related returns to Iran, notably during pending asylum procedures, while there remains a risk of persecution, arbitrary detention and application of the death penalty;

16. Calls on the Member States to support Iranian refugees in third countries, notably in Türkiye and Armenia, including by providing them with medical and psychosocial support;

17. Acknowledges the essential and long-standing work of Iranian civil society within and outside Iran and highlights the importance of its role in shaping the future of Iran, notably through the work of women’s rights organisations; reiterates, in this context, its call on the Commission to increase its political and financial support for Iranian civil society and non-governmental organisations, in particular by minimising bureaucracy for activists within Iran when accessing EU funds;

18. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to support all accountability efforts within and outside the UN that are working towards the documentation of deaths and their prompt, independent and transparent investigation, including through the collection of testimonies and evidence from people fleeing the country;

19. Calls for the EU and its international partners to make full use of all relevant instruments to combat impunity, including support for universal jurisdiction at national level and special tribunals at national and international levels to prosecute the grave human rights violations committed by the Iranian regime against its people;

20. Emphasises that, during 2025, aside from harsh repression by the regime, Iranian people have suffered economic hardship, poverty and shortages of basic goods and resources, notably water, owing to extreme drought, and have been subjected to external military interventions that resulted in death and displacement; calls on the Commission and the Member States, in their foreign policy on Iran, to prioritise alleviating the suffering of millions of Iranians and to provide them with socio-economic support;

21. Condemns the Iranian authorities’ use of transnational repression, both online and offline, to silence, intimidate, repress, coerce or even abduct opponents, as well as to threaten their families abroad; calls on the Commission, in close cooperation with the Member States, to strengthen prevention, protection and response mechanisms within the EU and to ensure that all acts of transnational repression are effectively investigated and prosecuted;

22. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Office of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.