European Union foreign ministers on Thursday agreed to include the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the bloc’s list of terrorist organizations, putting the powerful force in a category similar to that of the Islamic State group and al-Qaida and marking a symbolic shift in Europe’s approach to Iran’s leadership.
“Repression cannot go unanswered,” European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote on social media platform X. “Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise.”
Set up after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Shiite clerical ruling system, the Guard has great sway in the country, controlling swaths of the economy and armed forces. The force was also put in charge of Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs.