The European parliament on Wednesday adopted a resolution calling on the EU and its member states to add the IRGC and its subsidiaries to its terrorist list in light of Iran’s violent repression of the nation-wide protests and its supply of drones to Russia to use in the war in Ukraine.
“Where we do see eye to eye with our European partners is a recognition that Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism,” US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters, adding “there is no more nefarious exporter of international terrorism than Iran.”
Price said that countries around the world have vividly witnessed the IRGC’s “lethality” and their willingness to “take innocent lives,” noting that Washington and the EU agree on the need to cooperate against the threats posed by the Iranian forces.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian criticized the EU’s “inappropriate” approach, stressing that the IRGC is an official institution that plays an important role in Iran’s national security.
“Unfortunately, today we witnessed the issuance of an emotional, sharp and unprofessional draft resolution by the European Parliament, which is in conflict with political rationality and civility," Amir-Abdollahian was cited by Iranian state media as saying, in a phone call with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
IRGC-affiliated Fars News reported that the Iranian parliament is threatening to designate the armed forces of all EU member states as terrorist groups as a counter measurement to the EU’s amendment.
Protests spread across the Islamic republic in the aftermath of the death of young Kurdish woman Zhina (Mahsa) Amini at the hands of the morality police in September, sparking a violent crackdown by Iranian security forces, particularly the IRGC and its paramilitary Basij.
At least 525 protesters, including 71 children, have been killed and over 19,500 have been arrested since the protests began almost four months ago, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) on Thursday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in December said that Russia has received a new batch of Shahed drones from Iran, numbering 250 items, adding that they are primarily used to attack the country’s energy sector.
The US, UK, and European Union have imposed fresh sanctions on Tehran over the use of Iranian drones in Ukraine. Iran’s foreign ministry in November admitted that drones had been sent to Russia, but claimed the transaction had preceded the war in Ukraine which broke out in February.
