Von der Leyen condemns violent crackdown on Iranian protesters 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday called for imprisoned Iranian protesters to be released as demonstrations against the government in Tehran continued across the country.

Europe stands “fully behind” Iranian protesters, von der Leyen said in a post on X. “We unequivocally condemn the violent repression of these legitimate demonstrations.” She called for the immediate release of imprisoned demonstrators and the restoration of internet access, which has been unavailable in Iran since Thursday. 

Protests in Iran erupted in last December, driven by public anger over the country’s brutal economic situation. Within days, however, they morphed into open opposition to the country’s clerical leadership.

The anti-government demonstrations continued on Saturday, amid reports of overwhelmed hospitals and an appeal by the Iranian military to citizens asking them to foil “enemy plots.” 

According to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran, at least 65 people had been killed as of Friday, 2,311 individuals had been arrested, and protests had been recorded at 512 locations in 180 cities. Time magazine reported Friday that more than 200 people have died in the protests. 

A Western diplomat told POLITICO that reports of a higher death toll than what has currently been reported, citing NGOs, were “credible.” A spokesperson for the exiled opposition group NCRI said that based on initial assessments of the number of killed in smaller Iranian towns, it was likely that the death toll was substantially higher than could be formally confirmed.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola Saturday evening called for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to be designated as a terrorist organization and for more sanctions to be imposed on the Iranian regime.

“Those braving the streets, those political prisoners still being detained, need more than just words, Europe can act,” Metsola said in a post on X. “As one step: by designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization and by urgently further extending EU sanctions to all those individuals propping up the regime through repression, violence and murder.”

Metsola already had backed the protesters on Thursday — earning a rebuke from the Iranian Mission to the EU — and the European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas called any violence against protesters “unacceptable.” Other MEPs echoed Metsola’s remarks, including German Green Hannah Neumann, who chairs the Parliament’s delegation for relations with Tehran. She described the protests as a “breaking point” for Iran.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued a joint statement on Friday calling on the Iranian authorities to “refrain from violence.” 

U.S. President Donald Trump has come out strongly behind the protesters and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that the U.S. “supports the brave people of Iran.”

Demonstrators gathered outside the Iranian embassy in Brussels on Saturday. When POLITICO went to the embassy later Saturday afternoon, the protesters were gone, though a man was cleaning red paint from the gate.

Iran’s internet blackout has reached the 48-hour mark, according to cybersecurity watchdog NetBlocks. “Iran has now been offline for 48 hours, as telemetry shows the nationwide internet blackout remains firmly in place,” NetBlocks said in a post on X.