Switzerland urges Iran to end violence against protesters

Iran’s foreign ministry summoned the ambassadors of Britain, Germany, France and Italy on Monday after their governments expressed support for protests in the country, state media reported.

During the meeting, Iranian officials showed the envoys what they described as video evidence of violent acts by protesters, saying the actions went beyond peaceful demonstrations.

Tehran asked the ambassadors to pass the footage directly to their foreign ministers and urged their governments to retract official statements backing the protesters.

Iran said any political or media support for the demonstrations was unacceptable and amounted to interference in its internal security, the report said.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on Monday that Iran’s leadership was using force to crush protests, leading to many deaths, and called on Tehran to end the violence, release those wrongly detained and restore internet access.

In a post on X, Schoof said the men and women protesting in Iranian cities deserved international support as they stood up to what he called tyranny and spoke out for freedom.

“The Netherlands urgently calls on the Iranian regime to stop this violence, release people who have been unjustly arrested, and restore access to the internet,” he wrote.

“We stand firmly for the rights of the Iranian people,” he added.

Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin condemned the “brutal and violent suppression” of protesters in Iran and urged Tehran to end the crackdown.

Martin said the repression had left hundreds of civilians dead in recent days and added that Iranians had a fundamental right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression, according to a statement issued by the government of Ireland.

He urged authorities in Tehran to uphold the rights of all citizens and called for an end to violence and restrictions on basic freedoms.

“The violence must stop, the curtailing of basic freedoms must end, and dialogue begin at once,” Martin said.

Iran’s foreign ministry said on Monday that a communication channel between Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff remains open, after Trump said Tehran had reached out about possible talks.

“The communication channel between Mr Araghchi and the US president’s special representative is open, and whenever necessary, messages are exchanged through that channel,” foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said.

He added that Iran remained committed to diplomacy. “We have always adhered to the principle of diplomacy and negotiation, of course a negotiation that is two-sided,” he said.

Trump told reporters on Sunday that Iran had contacted the United States and proposed holding talks on a nuclear deal.

German lawmaker Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann on Monday called on the European Union to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization.

“The Iranian Revolutionary Guard must be placed on the EU’s terror list as soon as possible,” she wrote on X. “It is a major failure that this has not happened yet. Contrary to previous claims, this is possible – and there is truly enough evidence.”

Strack-Zimmermann chairs the European Parliament’s defence committee.