EU adds Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to ‘terrorist list’

Brussels: The European Union has listed Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation in the aftermath of Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests, the bloc’s top diplomat said in a post on X on Thursday.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said that foreign ministers unanimously agreed on the designation. She said that “any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise.”

The listing came after the 27-nation bloc sanctioned 15 Iranian officials, including top commanders in its Revolutionary Guard, over the violent crackdown on protesters. Activists say the crackdown has seen over 6,300 people killed.

The measures add to international pressure on the Islamic Republic as it faced US threats to potentially launch a military strike against it.

US forces have moved the USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers into the Mideast that can be used to launch attacks from the sea. It remains unclear whether President Donald Trump will use force against Iran, after he threatened military action in response to the killing of peaceful demonstrators and over possible mass executions.

For its part, Iran has said it could launch a pre-emptive strike or broadly target the Mideast, including American military bases in the region and Israel. Iran issued a warning to ships at sea Thursday that it planned to run a drill next week that would include live firing in the Strait of Hormuz, potentially disrupting traffic through a waterway that sees 20 per cent of all the world’s oil pass through it.

The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said earlier Thursday that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which has played a key role in suppressing the demonstrations, would also be added to the EU’s list of terrorist organisations.