Would have “negative consequences”: Iran threatens the EU because of the terrorist classification of the Revolutionary Guard

Would have “negative consequences”
Iran threatens EU over terrorist classification of Revolutionary Guard

The Revolutionary Guard in Iran belongs to the elite unit and is one of the most powerful authorities in the country. Because of their “terrorist activities” against demonstrators, the EU wants to put them on the terror list. Tehran warns of this in sharp words.

Iran has warned the European Union against including the Revolutionary Guards on its terror list. This would have “negative consequences,” said the Iranian foreign ministry in Tehran. The European Parliament had previously demanded that the Revolutionary Guards be listed because of “their terrorist activities” and the suppression of demonstrators. A decision is expected at the meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a phone call to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell that the EU would harm itself by doing so. The Revolutionary Guards are considered an elite unit in Iran and one of the most powerful entities in the Islamic Republic.

Amir-Abdollahian also condemned the European Parliament’s statement as “inappropriate”. The MEPs justify their call for the Revolutionary Guards to be included on the terrorist list with the delivery of Iranian drones to Russia in the war of aggression against Ukraine. Parliament’s request is not binding on EU countries. They want to decide on tougher sanctions against Iran at the foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Monday.

“Legal requirements” difficult

Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has been campaigning for months for the Revolutionary Guards to be included on the EU terror list. However, an EU decision was delayed because of the “difficult legal requirements”, as the Federal Foreign Office recently announced. According to the common position of the EU, for an organization to be listed as “terrorist”, there must be investigations in a member state, among other things.

Therefore, the member countries could decide not to put the Revolutionary Guards as a whole on the terrorist list, but only individual representatives who have participated in the suppression of the population, as it is said in Brussels. The consequences would not only be bans on entry and assets, but also “intensified measures of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters”, as the Council, representing the member states, emphasized.

Iran has been protesting against the leadership in Tehran for months. The trigger was the death of the young Kurd Mahsa Amini on September 16. Amini was arrested by the moral police because she is said to have worn her headscarf improperly. She died a short time later in a hospital. Activists accuse the authorities of mistreating Amini.

The EU states last tightened sanctions against Iran in mid-December and imposed entry and property bans on almost 30 other responsible persons. The EU has particularly sharply criticized the series of executions of dissenters in Iran.

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