The European Union is pushing for new sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, following a crackdown on protests that have gripped the country since the death of Mahsa Amini on 16 September.

Germany is leading the effort to impose new sanctions on Iran, including a proposal to freeze the assets of “those responsible for the crackdown,” as well as a ban for members of the Islamic Revolutionary Corp Guards (IRGC), following the example set by Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Germany’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, said that “those who beat up women and girls on the street, carry off people who want nothing other than to live freely, arrest them arbitrarily, and sentence them to death stand on the wrong side of history,” during an exclusive interview with Germany’s Bild news.

“To those people in Iran we say: we stand by you, and will continue to do so,” she added.

Baerbock assured her audience, saying that “we will ensure that the EU imposes entry bans on those responsible for this brutal repression and freezes their assets in the EU.”

Although Germany is leading the efforts in sanctions against Iran, other countries such as France, Denmark, Spain, Italy, and the Czech Republic have also submitted 16 proposals for sanctions.

The foreign ministers of the EU bloc will likely decide on the extent of the new wave of sanctions at their meeting on 17 October.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Forensic Medical Organization on 7 October released the autopsy report of Mahsa Amini, revealing she died from multiple organ failure (MOF) caused by severe cerebral hypoxia, as opposed to claims by international media that her death was a result of a blow to her head while in the custody of Iran’s morality police.

According to New York-based Human Rights Watch, up to 185 people have been killed and many more injured since the start of the nationwide protests on 16 September.