The European Parliament (EP) passed a non-binding resolution on Thursday advising the inclusion of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the European Union’s terror list.
The debates on the matter started on Monday’s plenary session. The resolution calls on the EU and member states to add the IRGC and its subsidiary forces to the list of terrorist organisations and to expand sanctions to cover all individuals and entities responsible for human rights violations.
“Any country in which the IRGC deploys military, economic, or informational operations should sever and outlaw ties with this agency,” the resolution read.
The EP also condemned Iran for executing participants of the nationwide protests that started in September upon the death of 22-year-old Jîna Mahsa Amini in morality police custody, and called for the immediate and unconditional release of all protesters who have been sentenced to death.
Four people have been executed in relation to the protests to date, while more than 100 have been sentenced to death. Nearly 500 protesters have lost their lives at the hands of Iranian security forces.
Those responsible for the deaths should be brought to justice, MEPs said, expressing deep concern over “structural transnational repression carried out by the authorities of the Islamic Republic, which includes espionage and assassinations, against the Iranian diaspora living in the EU”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said the IRGC was “a formal and sovereign organisation whose role is central for guaranteeing Iran’s security” ahead of the vote on Thursday, and that the EU would “shoot itself in the foot” if it designated the IRGC a terrorist group, Reuters reported.
Britain is also gearing up to designate the IRGC a terrorist organisation, and Germany’s foreign minister recently urged the EU to do the same.
