Over 100 members of the European Parliament have called on the European Union to take a tougher stance in response to Iran’s crackdown on protests, saying that the current measures taken by the EU are not enough.

In a letter to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell dated January 11, the lawmakers said that the measures taken by the EU so far “are by far not enough to deter the Iranian regime.”

The letter, signed by 118 members of the EU’s law-making body, called on the bloc to take a series of steps to increase pressure on Tehran, including imposing sanctions on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi, and designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.

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The letter also addressed Iran’s alleged provision of arms to Russia, saying Iran is “aiding a criminal Russian state, which keeps on terrorizing the people of Ukraine through relentless bombing of civilians and critical infrastructure.”

Protests have swept across Iran since September 16 when 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini died after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran.

The demonstrations have been demanding the overthrow of the regime, creating one of the most significant challenges to the Islamic Republic since it was founded in 1979.

Iranian authorities view the protests as “riots” backed by foreign powers and have responded with a violent crackdown, resulting in hundreds of deaths and thousands of arrests, according to human rights groups.

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