The European Parliament has barred Iranian diplomats from entering its buildings amid the brutal crackdown on protestors by Tehran, President Roberta Metsola said on Monday.

The ban is in place in Brussels, Strasbourg, Luxembourg and all of Parliament’s liaison offices in European cities, according to a Parliament official.

Metsola has clashed in recent weeks with the Iranian embassy in Brussels over her staunch support for the protestors. Iran’s Mission to the EU accused her of “disgusting hypocrisy” in a social media post last week.

In a new social media post on Monday, Metsola said the Parliament “will not aid in legitimising this regime that has sustained itself through torture, repression and murder.”

“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,” Metsola wrote in an email to all members and staff on Monday, which was seen by Euractiv.

“Our services have been instructed to deny entry to any representative attempting to enter with immediate effect,” she wrote in the email.

MEPs, however, are still allowed to engage with Tehran’s representatives because guidance dating from 2023 that restricted interactions with Iranian diplomats has lapsed, a second European Parliament official said.

Hannah Neumann, a German Green MEP, has called for all EU countries to expel Iranian diplomats.

A Parliament spokesperson said that Metsola was empowered to make the move because under Rule 22 of the institution’s internal rulebook, she is responsible for the “security and the inviolability of the premises.”

Calls for more sanctions

The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, signalled on Sunday that she was ready to propose fresh sanctions on Iran.

“We stand ready to propose new, more severe sanctions following the violent crackdown on protesters,” Commission spokesperson Anouar El Anouni confirmed to journalists.

However, all 27 EU governments would need to agree to impose sanctions.

The Netherlands is pushing for the EU to list the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation, Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel said in a social media post on Monday. 

The Dutch Minister also called for “targeted” sanctions on those breaching human rights and closing down communications channels. 

Metsola and the leaders of the Parliament’s political groupings will meet Kallas on Wednesday.

(cm)