The European Parliament on Thursday urged member states to list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, in a sign of growing support for new measures against Tehran as it arms Russia in Ukraine and suppresses protests at home.
The parliament’s resolution, which condemned Iran for its crackdown on protests, followed remarks from European Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen
on Tuesday saying she favored the move. Germany, the bloc’s most powerful country, has been pushing for the IRGC to be placed on the EU terrorism list for months.
Member states decide the bloc’s sanctions policy by unanimity but the parliament has influence over EU decisions.
Any move to sanction the IRGC would mark the clearest sign yet that the EU is turning away from the broad engagement with Tehran that marked European policy for years. In a sign of how rapidly the EU’s view of Iran has swung, European diplomats last spring prodded the U.S. to drop its Foreign Terrorist Organization listing of the IRGC as a way to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, a key Iranian demand.
Over the past six months, nuclear talks have ground to a halt and Iranian authorities have launched a bloody crackdown on protests that broke out in September. A surge in the number of European citizens detained by the Iranian government has further strained ties with Europe’s leading powers.
Iran’s backing for Russia’s war effort has all but silenced the voices of those in European capitals who have traditionally sought stronger ties with Tehran.
Iranian Foreign Minister
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian
warned against sanctioning the IRGC in a call Wednesday with EU foreign-policy chief
Josep Borrell,
saying Europe should “think about the negative consequences,” according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
“It is necessary to respect mutual security,” Mr. Amir-Abdollahian said.
The IRGC is a military organization tasked with protecting the Islamic revolution’s ideals. It has amassed vast economic power in Iran, while also being involved in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic-missile programs and stifling dissent at home, Western officials say. Its Quds Force, a specialized division, has arranged weapons deliveries and advised pro-Iranian militias in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere in the…
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