European Parliament overwhelmingly urges EU to label Iran's Revolutionary Guards as terrorists

Members of the European Parliament called on the EU's top leaders to add Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to the list of terrorist organisations. The European Parliament voted by a majority on Wednesday in favour of an initiative urging EU leaders to designate the elite Iranian army group as a terrorist group. 

By 598 votes in favour and only nine against (with 31 abstentions), the proposal passed, further politically compromising the elite corps of the Islamic Republic of Iran's army, putting pressure on the bloc's members to adopt this decision through a vote in the European Council. 

The European Parliament's vote is not binding on the EU, but it can fully influence the EU bloc because the recommendation comes from an institution directly elected by the citizens of the Union and reflects the will of the people accordingly. The decision includes imposing sanctions on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and placing all its affiliated institutions, such as the Basij forces and the Quds Forces (the international arm of the IRGC), on the list of "terrorist organisations". 

The vote took place as part of a wider debate on the annual report on foreign and security policy at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, before Thursday's vote on a single resolution opposing Iran's policy to reaffirm in principle the call for the designation of the IRGC as a terrorist group.  

Hannah Neumann MEP, one of the main sponsors of the resolutions against Iran and the IRGC, welcomed the resolution: "As long as the Revolutionary Guards terrorise their own people and the whole region, we must treat them as terrorists and put them on the sanctions list". 

Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, in an official statement, also welcomed the European Parliament's political action. "Iran is a terrorist state that exports terrorism to the Middle East, Europe and the whole world. The inclusion of the Revolutionary Guard, the world's largest terrorist organisation, on the EU's list of terrorist organisations will be an important step in the fight against the Iranian regime'', he said.

Thursday's vote also refers to the numerous human rights violations perpetrated over the past year by the regime in Tehran, including the killing of hundreds of demonstrators and the arrest of more than 20,000 protesters and opponents as part of a crackdown on popular marches in protest at the violent death of activist Mahsa Ahmini during her arrest by the Morality Police after she was accused of wearing the Islamic headscarf incorrectly. This is in addition to the request for the IRGC to be included in the list of terrorist organisations.  

The draft resolution will call on European leaders to extend individual sanctions (travel bans and asset freezes) on a number of Iranian officials, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Ebrahim Raisi, Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri and all members of the Iranian Parliament for encouraging the violent crackdown on opponents and protesters.  

This determination by the European Parliament continues the trail of denunciations from various quarters against Iran for its internal repression of opponents and its interference in the internal affairs of other states through loyal Shiite groups, such as the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Liwa Fatemiyoun in Afghanistan or the Popular Mobilisation Forces in Iraq. It is also worth highlighting the role of the Quds Forces, an international division of the IRGC that has been identified by various experts as the group that intervenes in various nations in the Middle East region in favour of the interests of the regime in Tehran, and which is seen as a destabilising element in these countries, focused on favouring the interests of Iran and the Shiite branch of Islam. 

Josep Borrell, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Policy, believes that the European Parliament's vote to recommend the inclusion of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on the terrorism list reflects European concerns. The EU diplomat said that "the recommendation to put the Revolutionary Guard on the list of terrorist organisations only reflects Europe's concerns", as reported by Al-Ain media. 

Josep Borrell himself spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and the latter called on the EU to think about the "negative consequences" of listing the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation. According to Al-Ain Abdollahian, he warned the EU that it would "shoot itself in the foot" by listing the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation. "Unfortunately, we witnessed the issuing of an emotional, sharp and unprofessional draft resolution by the European Parliament that contradicts rationality and political tact." 

All this at a time when the EU and Iran are still in talks on the nuclear deal, which the EU is trying to resume with the ayatollahs' regime to control its atomic programme.

The famous nuclear deal signed with Iran in 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was put in place to monitor Iran's nuclear programme and keep it under control in exchange for political and economic considerations. The US government of Donald Trump pulled out of the pact in 2018, alleging non-compliance by the Persian country in matters such as uranium enrichment, and imposed harsh economic sanctions, including those related to the oil trade, the main source of financing for the Asian country.

The Ayatollahs' regime responded to this by threatening more severe non-compliance in relation to its atomic programme and hostile actions towards cargo ships from other countries in important enclaves such as the Strait of Hormuz.

However, after all these tensions, the dialogue to restore the agreement was recently resumed with good intentions, especially on the part of the European countries involved in the JCPOA, although the United States has continued to maintain its reservations about Iranian intentions, even under the new administration of Joe Biden.