Iran summons EU ambassadors to protest terror listing
Iran has summoned all of the European Union’s ambassadors to the Islamic Republic to protest the bloc’s listing of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group.
The move comes as Iran faces the threat of US military intervention in response to killings of peaceful demonstrators and possible mass shootings.
The EU listed the Guard as a terrorist group last week for its role in a bloody crackdown on nationwide protests in January that left thousands dead and tens of thousands detained.
Other countries, including the United States and Canada, have previously designated the Guard as a terrorist organization. While the move is largely symbolic, it increases the economic pressures pressing on Iran; in particular, the Guard has a huge impact on the country’s economy.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told reporters that ambassadors began being summoned on Sunday and this process continued until Monday.
“A number of actions have been reviewed, various options are being prepared and sent to the relevant decision-making bodies,” Baghaei said. he said.
“We think that a decision will be made in the coming days regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran taking reciprocal action against the EU’s illegal, unreasonable and extremely wrong move.”
Also Sunday, Iran’s parliament speaker said the Islamic Republic now considers all European Union armies to be terrorist groups, citing a law passed in 2019.
The Guard emerged from Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution as a force aimed at protecting the government controlled by Shiite clerics, and was later incorporated into the constitution. Operating in parallel with the country’s regular armed forces, the organization rose to prominence and power during the long and devastating war with Iraq in the 1980s. Although it was in danger of possible disintegration after the war, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei allowed it to flourish by giving it authority to expand into private enterprise.
The Guard’s Basij force likely played a key role in suppressing significant demonstrations from January 8, when authorities cut off internet and international phone calls for the country of 85 million people.
Videos coming from Iran via Starlink satellite dishes and other means appear to show individuals, possibly members of Iranian forces, shooting and beating protesters.
