The European Union (EU) has officially added the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to its list of terrorist organizations in response to the violent crackdown on demonstrators in Iran. The announcement was made by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaya Kallas, via her official account on X, Operative Information Center-OMM reports.
Kaya Kallas described the move as a "decisive decision," emphasizing that state-sponsored violence against civilians would not go unanswered. She further noted that with this designation, the IRGC will hold the same legal status as groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS, triggering a range of restrictive measures including asset freezes and travel bans within the EU member states.
According to the latest report from the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the death toll from the nationwide protests in Iran has reached 6,126 people. The unrest, which initially broke out at Tehran's "Grand Bazaar" due to a severe economic crisis and the rapid devaluation of the national currency, quickly spread across the country. Iran's Tasnim news agency reported that more than 150 individuals, identified as key organizers of the riots, were detained in the city of Yazd. Official Tehran continues to dispute the casualty figures, instead blaming the United States and Israel for instigating the domestic instability.
The IRGC, established after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, is a powerful branch of the Iranian Armed Forces intended to protect the country's Islamic system. It plays a dominant role in Iran's economy and foreign policy, overseeing the country's ballistic missile program and providing support to various regional proxies. This EU designation marks a significant escalation in diplomatic pressure on Tehran, aligning the bloc's policy more closely with that of the United States, which designated the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization in 2019.
