European Union foreign ministers on Thursday agreed to include the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the bloc's list of terrorist organizations, putting the IRGC in a category similar to that of Islamic State and al-Qaeda and marking a symbolic shift in Europe's approach to Iran's leadership.
The EU also adopted sanctions on Thursday targeting 15 individuals and six entities “responsible for serious human rights violations in Iran," the Council of the European Union said in a statement.
Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, Iranian Prosecutor-General Mohammad Movahedi Azad, several IRGC commanders, and some senior law enforcement officials were among those sanctioned, the statement said.
Entities sanctioned on Thursday include the Iranian Audio-Visual Media Regulatory Authority and several software companies, which the EU said were “involved in censoring activities, trolling campaigns on social media, spreading disinformation and misinformation online, or contributed to the widespread disruption of access to the internet by developing surveillance and repression tools”.
The EU also sanctioned four individuals and six entities connected to Iran’s drone and missile program and “decided to extend the prohibition on the export, sale, transfer or supply from the EU to Iran to include further components and technologies used in the development and production of UAVs and missiles,” the Council said.
'An important and historic decision'
"EU Foreign Ministers just took the decisive step of designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise," European Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday on the social media platform X.
"When it comes to attacks, then I think the region does not need a new war," Kallas added in a separate announcement on Thursday, responding to a question about whether US President Donald Trump is weighing targeted strikes against Iran.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar commended the decision in a Thursday post to X, calling it "important and historic" while noting that Israel has worked for years to "achieve this outcome."
"Designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization will thwart and criminalize their activities in Europe," Sa'ar went on. "It will deal a significant economic blow to an organization that controls a vast share of the Iranian regime’s economy."
"It sends an important message to the brave men and women of Iran who are fighting for their freedom."
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen further welcomed the designation in her own post, calling the decision "long overdue," noting that "Terrorist is indeed how you call a regime that crushes its own people’s protests in blood."
The US House Foreign Affairs Committee Majority echoed the statement in its own X post, saying that "Europe is waking up to the truth."
"The IRGC must not be given a free pass to export terror and brutality throughout the globe on behalf of the Ayatollah."
Iran slams designation, claims EU is 'fanning the flames'
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi slammed the designation in a Thursday X post, claiming that rather than attempting to prevent war in the Middle East, "Europe is instead busy fanning the flames."
"Putting aside the blatant hypocrisy of its selective outrage—taking zero action in response to Israel's Genocide in Gaza and yet rushing to 'defend human rights' in Iran—Europe's PR stunt mainly seeks to cloak that it is an actor in severe decline," Araghchi wrote.
"Europeans deserve better than what their governments have to offer."
EU decision follows French announcement of support
The EU's decision follows France's Wednesday announcement that it would support the move, after initially hesitating.
"France will support the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the European Union's list of terrorist organizations," France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X on Wednesday.
"The unbearable repression of the peaceful uprising of the Iranian people cannot go unanswered. The extraordinary courage they have shown in the face of the blind violence unleashed upon them cannot be in vain."