EU Set To Add Iran’s Guards To Terror List After France U-turn
Paris : The European Union is preparing to include Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the list of terrorist organizations after France announced on Wednesday that it would support this move.
EU foreign ministers met in Brussels on Thursday and were due to sign new sanctions in response to a crackdown on protests that have left thousands dead and thousands arrested.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in his statement to X, “France will support the inclusion of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations.” he said.
The decision is likely to be politically approved on Thursday, with France, Italy and Germany also joining, but unanimity is required among the bloc’s 27 members.
Earlier on Wednesday, France had hesitated to support the majority in the bloc seeking to join the United States by adding the Revolutionary Guard to the EU’s list of terrorist organisations.
Barrot said, “The unbearable pressure on the peaceful uprising of the Iranian people cannot remain unanswered. Their extraordinary courage in the face of the blind violence inflicted on them cannot be in vain.”
The French Presidency had previously announced the decision.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, founded after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect its Shiite system of religious rule, wields great influence in the country, controls the economy and armed forces, and is blamed for Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
CUTTING TIES SCARES FEAR FOR CITIZENS IN IRAN
While some EU member states had previously pressed for the Revolutionary Guard to be added to the EU’s terrorist list, others, led by France, had been more cautious.
They feared that such a move could lead to a complete severance of ties with Iran, affecting diplomatic missions and also damaging negotiations for the release of European citizens held in Iranian prisons.
Paris is particularly concerned about the fate of two of its citizens living in the embassy in Tehran after being released from prison last year.
Anti-government protests that have gripped Iran since December have triggered the authorities’ bloodiest crackdown since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and drawn international condemnation.
Provocative alarm from US President Donald Trump.
Other diplomats supporting the move said the magnitude of the crackdown meant Europe needed to send a very strong political signal, given Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s role in the crackdown as well as its overseas activities, which they said were tantamount to terrorist activities.
“If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck and it would be good to shout that out,” said a senior EU diplomat.
