No tears for Iran's regime, people of Iran deserve dignity: EU Chief

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday, “there should be no tears shed for the Iranian regime” as she addressed the war in Iran and its wider consequences. In a speech to the European Union’s ambassadors, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used her most forceful rhetoric to date to call time on the old system, urging the diplomats to quickly update their thinking or be left behind.Von der Leyen did not condemn the attacks in her speech, instead saying “there should be no tears shed for the Iranian regime.” “The people of Iran deserve freedom, dignity, and the right to decide their own future — even if we know this will be fraught with danger and instability during and after the war”, she said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday, “there should be no tears shed for the Iranian regime” as she addressed the war in Iran and its wider consequences. pic.twitter.com/TAQ7imxTWP

— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) March 9, 2026

The EU must decide whether the rules-based international order “is more a help or a hindrance to our credibility as a geopolitical actor”, she said. “Europe can no longer be a custodian for the old world order, for a world that has gone and will not return,” von der Leyen said. “We will always defend and uphold the rules-based system that we helped to build with our allies, but we can no longer rely on it as the only way to defend our interests or assume its rules will shelter us from the complex threats that we face.”