EU foreign ministers are poised to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation following a deadly crackdown on mass protests.
BRUSSELS: EU foreign ministers are expected to agree to put Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on the bloc’s “terrorist list” on Thursday.
The move follows a deadly crackdown on mass protests that reportedly killed thousands of people across Iran.
“If you act as a terrorist, you should also be treated as terrorists,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas (pic) told journalists ahead of the meeting.
She said the step puts the Revolutionary Guards on the same level as jihadist groups like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
The symbolic EU decision will send a strong message of condemnation to Tehran.
The 27-nation bloc is also set to approve visa bans and asset freezes on 21 state entities and Iranian officials.
These are expected to include the country’s interior minister over the brutal repression.
Iranian authorities acknowledge that over 3,000 people were killed during the protests.
They claim the majority were members of the security forces or bystanders killed by “rioters”.
Rights groups dispute this, saying the toll is far higher and potentially in the tens of thousands.
They note that protesters were killed by security forces, including the Revolutionary Guards directly firing on them.
The expected green light for blacklisting the IRGC came after France announced it was backing the move.
This followed a similar shift from Italy.
“There can be no impunity for the crimes committed,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters.
“This decision is also an appeal by France to the Iranian authorities to release the prisoners thrown by thousands into the regime’s prisons,” he added.
Barrot urged Tehran to end an internet blackout and “give back to the Iranian people the capacity to choose their own future.”
The IRGC is the ideological arm of Tehran’s military and controls companies across the Iranian economy.
“The estimate is that still the diplomatic channels will remain open even after the listing of the Revolutionary Guards,” Kallas said.
The EU has already sanctioned several hundred Iranian officials and entities over previous crackdowns and Tehran’s support for Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The IRGC as a whole and senior commanders are already under EU sanctions.
A move to add them to the terror blacklist is expected to have little practical impact on the organisation.
