EU designates Revolutionary Guard as terrorist organization, imposes sanctions on Iranian officials amid violent protests.
Iranian Revolutionary Guard on EU’s List of Terrorist Organizations
The European Union has added the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to its list of terrorist organizations. Ministers of foreign affairs of the 27 member states decided this at a meeting in Brussels. “Repressions cannot go unanswered” – wrote Kaja Kallas, head of EU diplomacy, on X.
She added that any regime that kills thousands of its own citizens is heading towards collapse. Kallas had already announced such a decision early Thursday morning. “This will equate the Revolutionary Guard with Al-Qaeda, Hamas, and Daesh [ISIS – red.]. If someone acts like a terrorist, they should be treated like a terrorist” – she emphasized. Being placed on the list of terrorist organizations means freezing funds and financial assets in Europe.
EU Decision on Iran
In response to the bloody suppression of anti-government protests in Iran, the EU also imposed sanctions on fifteen high-ranking officials in Iran as well as representatives of the judiciary. “We are sending a clear signal that oppressing people has a price and that sanctions will be imposed on everyone for it” – emphasized Kaja Kallas.
The ban on entry to the EU and blocked assets affected, among others, Iran’s Minister of the Interior, the Prosecutor General, the head of the public security police, the Prosecutor General, the head of the 26th department of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, as well as the commander of the special forces brigade and commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in various regions of Iran. Six Iranian companies and organizations were also sanctioned.
A Month of Protests in Iran
Protests in Iran began on December 28. They are directed against the government, which, according to protesters, has led to the weakening of the country’s economy and the collapse of the currency’s value. The main demand of citizens is the resignation of Iran’s supreme spiritual leader.
As early as early January, information appeared that Ali Khamenei has a prepared plan to flee the country in case of escalation. The Ayatollah and his family are reportedly to go to Russia. Demonstrations are being suppressed by the regime. The US-based information agency Human Rights Activist reported that over 6,300 people have been killed in Iran in recent weeks, however, it noted that providing an exact number is impossible due to lack of access to reliable information from the country.
It was added that over 42,450 people were arrested, and human rights organizations estimate that over 30,000 people could have died. Human Rights Watch condemned the mass, unlawful killings in Iran and appealed for the existing UN commission of inquiry – established by the Council in 2022 after the previous wave of protests – to investigate the number of victims and receive additional financial funds for this purpose.