Can EU exert more pressure on Iran with sanctions?

The European Union (EU) is contemplating imposing additional sanctions on Iran as a crackdown on anti-government protests has reportedly killed thousands and the regime has imposed a communication blackout.

In a post on X, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the "violent repression" of the protests and called for the "immediate release of all imprisoned demonstrators." She later said that the EU would swiftly propose sanctions "on those responsible" for the ongoing repression.

For his part, US President Donald Trump has announced a  25% tariff on goods from countries with business ties to Iran and said that he is looking at military options.

Cornelius Adebahr, an associate fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations, told DW that the US had threatened military action without fully understanding its impact and that the EU was faced with a difficult situation.

"I blame the EU for many things but not for failing to have instruments for this particular situation," he said. "What can the EU do if the regime is willing to use violence at scale for its own survival?"

He said that the bloc's likely next move would be to impose sanctions on those directly behind the recent killings and arrests in Iran.

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Ellie Geranmayeh from the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) Middle East and North Africa Program said that European governments should  "work with relevant Western governments, NGOs and private sector actors to increase urgently needed internet access inside Iran, including improved connectivity in future internet shutdowns."

The US president has said he will ask Elon Musk to get his Starlink satellite internet service fully operational in Iran to bypass the current blackout, which has been in place since January 8.

Geranmayeh also called on European governments to increase funding for Western-based NGOs that have been credibly documenting human rights violations in Iran and those supporting peaceful civil society actors inside the country.

She said that the EU should "actively put in place contingency plans to support the safe departure from Iran for European citizens in case of military conflict."

According to Adebahr, the EU's options are limited. He said that if previous sanctions had failed to bring about the desired change in regime's behavior, there was no reason to believe that any future sanctions would succeed.

The EU has already imposed a horde of sanctions on Iran in response to its human rights abuses, but they "haven't moved a needle," in Iranian policy, he said.

There are currently sanctions on 230 individuals and 40 entities, including Iran's infamous so-called "morality police," but this has not prevented the regime from resorting to violence.

European sanctions on Iran have failed in other instances. The EU, France, Germany and the United Kingdom were all co-signatories to the Iran nuclear deal in 2015, which allowed Iran to develop a civilian nuclear program if it agreed to enrich uranium at a much lower grade than that required to build a nuclear weapon. A variety of UN sanctions were lifted as a result.

In 2018, Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal, and Iran started to enrich uranium at 60%. In September 2025, the EU announced that, because Iran was violating the terms of the deal, it would reinstate previously lifted sanctions.

The hope was to bring Iran to the negotiating table, but it was dashed.

Adebhar told DW that by imposing these sanctions on Iran, European governments had lost their credibility in the eyes of the regime, which saw them as taking their lead from the US.

He said that while sanctions had a limited impact, European member states retained the option to recall their envoys to Iran and apply diplomatic pressure on the country. "Thats one way states show their diplomatic disapproval to each other."

The EU has already barred any Iranian official or diplomat from accessing the European Parliament premises after the Iranian Mission to the EU termed European Parliament President Roberta Metsola's calls for support for the protesters as "interventionist."