FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The EU is expected to list Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization, in a sign of deepening international condemnation of the regime's brutal crackdown on protesters.
Ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Thursday, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she expected an agreement on including Iran's Revolutionary Guard on the bloc's terrorist list.
Citing the death toll from recent protests, she added: “That is why we are also sending a clear message that if you are suppressing people, there is a price and you will be sanctioned for that as well.”
The EU is also expected to add more Iranian government officials and organizations to its sanctions list for their role in suppressing protesters.
Momentum to list Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group has grown in the past 24 hours, with France dropping its opposition to the plan on the eve of a meeting of foreign ministers.
“The intolerable repression of the peaceful uprising of the Iranian people cannot go unanswered,” wrote French Foreign Minister Jean-Nöel Barrot in X, adding “their extraordinary courage in the face of the violence that has been used indiscriminately against them cannot be in vain.”
France had long resisted a list of the IRGC, fearing that a state body's list would hinder efforts to reach a diplomatic agreement on Iran's nuclear program and harm the interests of French citizens in the country.
Belgium had similar concerns, but included support for the listing in the new government's coalition agreement last year. Belgium's Foreign Minister, Maxime Prévot, said his country supported the listing "particularly in light of the atrocities and repression that have been observed in recent weeks."
The ranking must be unanimously approved by the 27 EU member states.
The potential sanctions come amid what rights groups have described as a "revenge" campaign by the Iranian regime, as doctors and healthcare workers face death sentences for treating seriously injured protesters. Meanwhile, Donald Trump warned Iran to negotiate a deal on the future of its nuclear program or face a military strike.
Founded after the 1979 Islamic revolution, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is an elite paramilitary force separate from the regular army, with 150,000 ground troops and its own naval and air forces. The Corps was listed as a terrorist organization in 2019 by the US during the first Trump administration, by Canada in 2024 and Australia in 2025.
Lini një Përgjigje