France’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that he had summoned Iran’s ambassador to protest against what he described as the “unrestrained use of state violence against peaceful demonstrators” in Iran. Similar démarches have been made by several European governments as the death toll rises, while the United States has warned that it may intervene.
Since mass protests erupted across Iran demanding an end to the clerical system in power since 1979, the authorities have responded with a severe and brutal crackdown. Activists say that at least 648 people have been killed, though the true figure remains unclear owing to an internet blackout.
France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said on Tuesday afternoon that he had summoned Iran’s ambassador in Paris to protest against what he described as the “unrestrained use of state violence against peaceful protesters” in Iran.
“I conveyed this condemnation to the Iranian foreign minister,” Barrot said. “It will also be reiterated to the Iranian ambassador to France, whom I summoned today to the Quai d'Orsay,,” he told members of parliament during questions in the National Assembly.
“But we will not stop there. There can be no impunity for those who turn their guns on peaceful protesters,” he added.
President Emmanuel Macron made similar remarks the previous day.
At around the same time on Tuesday, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the European Union would “quickly” propose new sanctions against those responsible for the repression of protests in Iran.
France's Iranian diaspora divided over deadly protests back home
UK, EU summoning
The UK government also summoned on Tuesday the Iranian ambassador in London "to answer for the horrific reports" emerging from Iran amid a deadly crackdown on protests, British foreign secretary Yvette Cooper said.
"The minister for the Middle East, at my instruction, has summoned the Iranian ambassador to underline the gravity of this moment and to call Iran to answer for the horrific reports that we are hearing," she told MPs in a statement to parliament.
Cooper added she was "fearful that the reports that we have seen may underestimate the full scale of the horror as further evidence and testimony reaches the outside world".
Finland and Denmark summoned Iran's representatives to their countries as well on Tuesday, because of Tehran's nationwide shutdown of the internet and violent crackdown on protests.
"Iran's regime has shut down the internet to be able to kill and oppress in silence," Finland's Minister of Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen wrote on social media X.
"This will not be tolerated. We stand with the people of Iran - women and men alike", she said, adding that she would "summon the Iranian ambassador this morning".
Valtonen said the Nordic country was also "exploring measures to help restore freedom to the Iranian people" together with the EU.
Denmark's foreign ministry also announced that it had summoned Iran's charge d'affaires, as the ambassador was currently away, "to express the government's condemnation of the Iranian regime's use of violence against demonstrators".
The ministry said in a statement that it has also urged "Iran to comply with its international obligations, including the right to freedom of expression, association and assembly."
"This also applies to ensuring free and unhindered access to the internet," the statement said.
Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said Monday that the violent crackdown on a wave of protests in Iran has killed at least 648 people.
But it warned the death toll was likely much higher, "according to some estimates more than 6,000".
A nationwide shutdown of the internet by authorities in Iran, which activists fear is aimed at masking the scale of a crackdown, has now lasted over 108 hours, a monitor said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said also on Tuesday that Iranians should continue nationwide protests, take over institutions and record names of "killers and abusers," as authorities there cracked down on mass demonstrations.
(with AFP)
