BRUSSELS, June 19 (Reuters) - European Union leaders condemned Iran's handling of protests against its disputed election on Friday, urging Tehran to refrain from violence and to launch an investigation into the staging of the poll.

Iranian state media have reported seven or eight people killed in protests since results published on June 13 showed a landslide victory for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Scores of reformists have been arrested and authorities have cracked down on media.

"The European Union is observing the response to the protests across Iran with serious concern," the EU leaders said in a joint statement after a summit in Brussels.

"It firmly condemns the use of violence against protesters resulting in loss of lives...the authorities should refrain from the use of force against demonstrators."

Commentary: Obama must speak out on Iran

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- With Iran suffering a political earthquake, allow me to put in a good word for meddling.

I realize there will always be those Americans who recoil at the idea of U.S. military intervention or economic sanctions -- or, for that matter, even just tersely worded statements from the White House -- because, they insist, the United States should not interfere with the domestic affairs of other countries.

Since when? The United States has, for decades, interfered with the destinies of other nations - in Asia, Africa, Latin America and elsewhere.

In fact, just recently, President Obama took to interfering in the Middle East by scolding Israel for its treatment of Palestinians and its settlements in the West Bank.

Yet now, in a real disappointment to anyone who values freedom, Obama has declared his reluctance to "meddle" in the aftermath of the disputed Iranian presidential election even as hundreds of thousands of protesters put themselves at risk on the streets of Tehran.

I do believe it is in our interest to support (even if only moral support) those who are seeking a fair democracy no matter where it is. It should be a standard in US foreign policy.

The truth is the entire nightmare can be traced back to the liberal democratic policies of the leftist Jimmy Carter, who created a firestorm that destabilized our greatest ally in the Muslim world, the shah of Iran, in favor of a religious fanatic, the ayatollah Khomeini.

Carter viewed Khomeini as more of a religious holy man in a grassroots revolution than a founding father of modern terrorism. Carter's ambassador to the UN, Andrew Young, said "Khomeini will eventually be hailed as a saint." Carter's Iranian ambassador, William Sullivan, said, "Khomeini is a Gandhi-like figure." Carter adviser James Bill proclaimed in a Newsweek interview on February 12, 1979 that Khomeini was not a mad mujahid, but a man of "impeccable integrity and honesty."

Let's look at the results of Carter's misguided liberal policies: the Islamic Revolution in Iran; the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (Carter's response was to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics); the birth of Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization; the Iran-Iraq War, which cost the lives of millions dead and wounded; and yes, the present war on terrorism and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In February 1979 Khomeini had boarded an Air France flight to return to Teheran with the blessing of Jimmy Carter. The moment he arrived, he proclaimed: "I will kick his teeth in" - referring to then prime minister Shapour Bakhtiar, who was left in power with a US pledge of support. He was assassinated in Paris by Iranian agents in 1991.

They are now complaining that he is not actively engaging in another countries problems and politics.