EU Declares Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a Terror Group

In a long-awaited move that signals a hardening of Europe’s stance on Iran, the European Union has formally moved to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, with Germany pledging to make the action legally binding as quickly as possible.

The decision comes amid mounting evidence of Tehran’s violent crackdown on its own citizens, mass executions, and deepening military cooperation with Russia. The announcement also included a new round of EU sanctions targeting senior Iranian officials, judges, and surveillance operatives complicit in the regime’s latest wave of repression.

“Terrorist is indeed how you call a regime that crushes its own people’s protests in blood,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “Europe stands with the people of Iran in their brave fight for freedom.”

That fight has become bloodier by the day. According to Human Rights Activists News Agency, at least 6,373 confirmed fatalities have resulted from Iran’s internal crackdown since December, with another 17,091 deaths still under review. Internet access remains restricted, mass arrests continue, and the Islamic regime appears to have entered a “post-crackdown phase” marked by even tighter censorship and security pressure.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul signaled Europe’s seriousness, saying implementation of the terror designation would be rapid.

“The next step will be the rapid implementation towards a legally binding listing,” Wadephul said. “The EU stands side by side with the Iranian people against repression.”

The IRGC Tehran’s ideological army and power broker has long been responsible for suppressing dissent at home and exporting terror abroad. It operates with near-complete autonomy and controls billions in economic and military resources. The group also oversees proxy militias across Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen, and it is now actively supplying military support to Vladimir Putin’s war machine in Ukraine.

The U.S. was the first to formally label the IRGC a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2019, followed by Canada in 2024, with Australia and several Gulf states also joining the designation. Now, with the EU on board, Iran finds itself increasingly isolated from the West and with good reason.

The latest EU sanctions target more than just the IRGC itself. Iran’s interior minister, police chiefs, cyber operatives, and judges from “revolutionary courts” have all been sanctioned for their roles in jailing, torturing, and executing protesters. Several officials were also flagged for helping Russia militarily, particularly through drone and weapons shipments used against Ukrainian civilians.

The influential U.S.-based advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) welcomed the EU’s decision and called on the United Kingdom to finally follow suit.

“The IRGC must be denied the ability to operate with impunity abroad,” UANI said. “We now urge the U.K. to proscribe the IRGC, following the lead of the EU, the United States, Canada, and Australia.”

Unsurprisingly, Tehran responded with rage. Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf tried to flip the narrative, absurdly calling the IRGC one of the world’s “most effective anti-terrorism forces,” while simultaneously accusing the EU of siding with “terrorists.”

But facts tell a different story.

This is the same IRGC that shot down a commercial airliner filled with civilians in 2020. The same force that gassed girls in schools to break protest movements. The same group supplying weapons to Hezbollah, Houthis, and Hamas. And the same institution leading the brutal crackdown that has killed thousands of peaceful Iranian citizens in just the last year.

For too long, Europe appeased Iran in the name of diplomacy. But as Tehran's regime tightened its grip through surveillance, violence, and propaganda, the myth of moderation collapsed. The EU’s move to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization is not only overdue it’s morally essential.

Now the question is whether more countries particularly the United Kingdom will step up, close the loopholes, and apply the full force of diplomatic, economic, and legal pressure to a regime that has made tyranny its business model.

Because if the West truly wants peace in the Middle East and justice for Iran’s oppressed, it starts by naming evil where it lives and making sure it can no longer hide behind the language of diplomacy.

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