Iran has been gripped by widespread popular protests for more than two weeks, with demonstrators across the country demanding an end to repression, dictatorship, and systemic violence. These protests have been met with brutal force by the Iranian regime, including the killing of protesters, mass arrests, and intensified repression by security forces, particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Against this backdrop of escalating violence, described by many observers as a massacre of peaceful protesters, Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, has issued a clear and unequivocal call for the blacklisting of the IRGC as a terrorist organization, alongside stronger sanctions against those sustaining the Iranian regime through violence and repression.
Below is the full text of Roberta Metsola’s public statements, including her message posted on X and her oral remarks, reflecting the European Parliament’s position and its message of solidarity with the Iranian people in their struggle for freedom.
Roberta Metsola’s Statement on X
If not now, then when? It’s time for Europe to act decisively. It’s time for stronger sanctions against those sustaining the Iranian regime through violence, killings, and repression. It’s time for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to finally be designated as a terrorist organisation. It’s time for freedom in Iran.
Roberta Metsola’s Remarks
2026 has to be the year when dictatorships come to an end, and the European Parliament has been crystal clear in this regard.
We’ve called for sanctions, and we’ve also gone a step further in asking member states to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization.
We know that discussions are ongoing in this regard, but we think that the best message at this stage to the Iranians—the thousands of them who are on the streets—but also to all the communities that live in our countries, would be precisely to do that.
We in Europe know what it means to live under repression and to fight authoritarian regimes that keep us held down, and we have managed to overcome that on this continent. So, we would tell and encourage people in the street not to give up, because we see that the cracks are happening, and they should continue to push against them.
And my message to the Iranian people who would ask that question is precisely this: to believe and to not give up.
