Iran’s foreign ministry summoned the envoys of Britain, Germany, France and Italy on Monday after their governments expressed support for protests in the country, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
During the meeting, Iranian officials showed the envoys “video evidence of violent acts by rioters,” saying the actions went beyond peaceful demonstrations. Tehran asked the diplomats to pass the footage to their foreign ministers and urged their governments to retract official statements backing the protests, Tasnim said.
Separately, the European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on Monday announced a ban on all Iranian diplomats and representatives from entering the Parliament’s premises, citing Iran’s crackdown on the unrest. The European union has also said it plans “newer and more severe sanctions” on Iran.
Protests broke out across Iran late last month over a sharp depreciation of the rial and sweeping subsidy reforms, before spiralling into nationwide unrest with clashes reported between police and demonstrators.
At least 111 members of Iran’s security forces have been killed in the unrest over the past two weeks, Tasnim reported. Iranian authorities have not released official casualty figures for protesters.
