Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Monday urged the EU to list Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a “terrorist organisation” following a deadly crackdown on mass protests.
Tajani said he would propose the idea “in coordination with other partners” at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday.
“The losses suffered by the civilian population during the protests demand a clear response,” he wrote on X.
He also called for the EU to levy individual sanctions against those responsible.
US-based rights group Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said on Monday it had confirmed the deaths of nearly 6,000 people during the protests, and was investigating another 17,000 possible fatalities.
Iranian authorities, for their part, last week acknowledged 3,117 deaths.
The EU has already sanctioned several hundred Iranian officials over crackdowns on previous protest movements and over Tehran’s support for Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The bloc has also banned the export to Iran of a raft of components that could be used in the country’s drone and missile manufacturing.
Last week, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen announced plans to ban additional exports of critical drone and missile technologies.
An EU official on Friday confirmed that the proposal to designate the IRGC a terrorist organisation was on the table for this week’s meeting, but said it needs unanimity to be approved and “we are not yet there”.
The United States designated the IRGC a terrorist organisation in 2019.
Add Comment