Iranian diplomats banned from European Parliament

President Roberta Metsola steps up action against officials working for the Tehran regime after attacks on protesters across Iran.

Iranian diplomats are to be banned from entering the European Parliament in response to the Tehran regime’s brutal crackdown on protesters who are demanding an end to half a century of religious dictatorship.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced the move in a letter to MEPs on Monday. The ban will apply to all the Parliament’s buildings, in Brussels and Strasbourg — where the main debates take place — as well as its secretariat in Luxembourg.

It will mean that anyone with an Iranian passport will be checked at the door and those found to be working for the regime will be denied access, with immediate effect. “The people of Iran can continue to rely on this Parliament for support, solidarity, and action,” Metsola wrote in her letter, seen by POLITICO.

The ban comes amid a growing international outcry at Tehran’s crackdown on huge demonstrations that have swept across the country over the past two weeks.

At the weekend, Metsola raised the prospect of fresh EU sanctions as she expressed her support for the plight of the demonstrators, many of whom have demanded the end of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s rule. Sanctions are now formally being considered by the bloc’s diplomatic service.

But the EU is still facing questions over what urgent action it will take beyond expressions of sympathy, in the face of an escalating crisis.

“Those braving the streets, those political prisoners still detained, need more than just solidarity,” Metsola said. “I have taken the decision to ban all diplomats, staff of diplomatic missions, government officials and representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran from entering any premises of the European Parliament.”

One idea that has won support in the past is to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization and “to further extend EU sanctions to cover all those individuals engaging in repression, violence, and executions,” Metsola wrote to her colleagues.

“As protests on the streets of Iran continue unabated, so does the crackdown of the regime, with communications being blocked, reports of violence, killings, and arbitrary detentions,” she said. “I know many of you see the courageous people of Iran standing up. We hear them demanding their dignity, and liberty.”