On Thursday, January 29, EU members have formally agreed on registering the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the bloc’s list of proscribed terrorist organizations – a list that includes the Islamic State, Hamas and Al-Qaeda – as part of an international campaign of pressure against the Islamic Republic following their brutal repression of the largest protests to rock the country since the 1979 Revolution.
The IRGC was founded by the Ayatollah Khomeini after the Shah was overthrown in 1979 to be the armed wing of his regime, tasked with protecting the Islamic Republic against internal threats, cracking down on protests and opponents, and spreading Khomeinism abroad, notably by conducting covert operations in support of Iranian proxies in the Middle East.
Over the years, the IRGC grew to be the first military force in Iran, and a complex network of oligarchic state capture of economic activities and international sanction evasion, with some experts estimating that the Revolutionary Guards control up to a fifth of Iran’s economy as of 2026.
Routinely denounced for its human rights abuses and destabilization efforts, the IRGC was the architect of the brutal massacres of Iranian protesters starting on the “bloody weekend” of January 8-9 that killed, according to converging sources inside the country, between 16,500-35,000 people, as estimates remain hard to establish given the near-complete communications blackout enforced by the Islamic Republic.
The IRGC had already been designated as a terrorist organization by the US, Canada or Australia, but EU members France, Italy and Spain were reluctant to approve such a measure EU-wide, arguing that keeping diplomatic channels open with the de facto rulers of Iran was necessary, notably to secure the release of European nationals kept as hostages by the regime – the trickling news of the massacres carried out by the IRGC seem to have moved the needle.
The “terrorist” designation is primarily symbolical but will also carry legal consequences in the shape of asset freezes, visa bans and expulsions of individuals associated with the group. Shortly before the announcement, Kaja Kallas confirmed that additional sanctions would be imposed on non-IRGC Iranian leaders, including Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni or police chief Seyed Majid Feiz Jafari.
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!ping EUROPE&MIDDLE-EAST
On Thursday, January 29, EU members have formally agreed on registering the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the bloc’s list of proscribed terrorist organizations – a list that includes the Islamic State, Hamas and Al-Qaeda – as part of an international campaign of pressure against the Islamic Republic following their brutal repression of the largest protests to rock the country since the 1979 Revolution.
The IRGC was founded by the Ayatollah Khomeini after the Shah was overthrown in 1979 to be the armed wing of his regime, tasked with protecting the Islamic Republic against internal threats, cracking down on protests and opponents, and spreading Khomeinism abroad, notably by conducting covert operations in support of Iranian proxies in the Middle East.
Over the years, the IRGC grew to be the first military force in Iran, and a complex network of oligarchic state capture of economic activities and international sanction evasion, with some experts estimating that the Revolutionary Guards control up to a fifth of Iran’s economy as of 2026.
Routinely denounced for its human rights abuses and destabilization efforts, the IRGC was the architect of the brutal massacres of Iranian protesters starting on the “bloody weekend” of January 8-9 that killed, according to converging sources inside the country, between 16,500-35,000 people, as estimates remain hard to establish given the near-complete communications blackout enforced by the Islamic Republic.
The IRGC had already been designated as a terrorist organization by the US, Canada or Australia, but EU members France, Italy and Spain were reluctant to approve such a measure EU-wide, arguing that keeping diplomatic channels open with the de facto rulers of Iran was necessary, notably to secure the release of European nationals kept as hostages by the regime – the trickling news of the massacres carried out by the IRGC seem to have moved the needle.
The “terrorist” designation is primarily symbolical but will also carry legal consequences in the shape of asset freezes, visa bans and expulsions of individuals associated with the group. Shortly before the announcement, Kaja Kallas confirmed that additional sanctions would be imposed on non-IRGC Iranian leaders, including Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni or police chief Seyed Majid Feiz Jafari.
Good to hear
Surprised this wasn’t done sooner