EU Brands Iran’s IRGC a Terror Group during Deadly Protest Crackdown

EU ministers label Iran’s IRGC a terror group over protest crackdown, triggering sanctions, asset freezes, and travel bans across Europe.

The European Union has added Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to its list of terrorist organizations. This move in EU policy is a sign of growing public outrage and disapproval from the global community toward the oppressive crackdown that the Iranian leadership continues to carry out against its own population during their ongoing protests.

The foreign ministers of the EU in Brussels reached this unanimous decision after evaluating the violent actions that the IRGC has used against its own citizens as constitutive of acts of shock. Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, stated on X, “A regime that has murdered thousands of its own people is fighting towards its own end.”

The designation of the IRGC as a terror organization puts it alongside the likes of the Islamic State, Hamas, and Al-Qaeda. This includes making it illegal for anyone in any EU member state to provide financial aid/support to IRGC members or the IRGC itself, as well as placing legal consequences on all IRGC employees, including asset freezes and bans from travelling.

The ruling designates the IRGC to the same group as the Islamic State, Hamas, and al-Qaida. It makes supporting the group illegal in member nations of the EU and puts into effect legal actions including freezing assets of members and travel bans on IRGC members.

In addition to putting the IRGC on a blacklist, the EU put new sanctions on 15 Iranian officials and six NGOs who have been said to be involved with human rights violations and censorship related to the Iranian protests. Opposition groups state that 6 thousand people or more have died from the crackdown; however, the Iranian government states lower numbers.

There are many opinions surrounding the matter. Tehran contends that the EU has increased regional conflict and engaged in human rights hypocrisy and regards this as hostile and illegal. Iranian officials warned that if they uphold the designation, there will be more global repercussions.