EU parliament president says 2026 will mark end of dictatorships

The European Union should take immediate measures against Iran’s regime as it cracks down on protesters, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said. 

Speaking to Euronews’ Europe Today, she warned that the Iranian leadership is "on its last legs" and called for sanctions and the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation.

"We are appalled by what is happening in Iran, and we cannot stand idly when we see that the regime is using violence, repression and abuse to clamp down on what we believe to be fundamental freedoms," Metsola told the programme.

Metsola has urged EU leaders not to wait for the United States to act, noting that President Donald Trump has suggested possible intervention in Iran. She echoed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s assessment that the regime may be in its "final weeks" and is "effectively finished" if it relies on force to survive.

"How that happens, that's not for us to say; it's for the Iranian people to determine (their future), but we must support them," she said. "If not now, when?"

The European Parliament chief has taken several symbolic steps, including banning Iranian diplomats from entering the parliament and calling for urgent measures to respond to the crackdown, which civil groups estimate has killed more than 2,000 people.

"This has been in a position of the European Parliament for many years now, ever since we saw those brave women on the streets of Iran calling for their liberty, their rights and their dignity" to be respected, Metsola added, referencing the Women, Life, Freedom movement that emerged after Mahsa Amini’s death.

"2026 is the year where dictatorships will be over," she concluded.

The EU is reportedly debating whether to add the IRGC to its list of terrorist organisations, a move that would trigger further punitive measures.

By Aghakazim Guliyev