Congress Presses Europe To Designate Iran’s Military as a Terror Group

A group of Republican senators has called on the European Union to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran as a terrorist organization. They have cautioned that Tehran’s paramilitary group is spreading terror in the Western world.

“The IRGC clearly presents a threat to the EU and our collective security,” the senators stated on Wednesday. Sen. James Risch (R., Idaho) led the delegation of senators, and he is the senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The senators have asked Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, to cut off IRGC’s resources to prevent any future terrorist attacks.

The European Parliament has proposed designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization and implementing a strict sanctions regime. However, the EU appears unwilling to move forward with that designation, mainly due to trade interests. But as Iran supplies lethal drone technology to Russia for its war in Ukraine, Europe is under increasing pressure to act. Iran has warned of “unwanted legal and political consequences” if the EU takes action against the IRGC.

The United States designated the IRGC as a global terrorist organization in 2019. While the Biden administration mulled over withdrawing that designation to secure a revamped version of the 2015 nuclear deal, the Republican pushback thwarted that effort.

The Republican senators believe that the EU’s designation of the IRGC will make the world a safer place for Americans and Europeans. The EU already approved comprehensive sanctions on Iran in Jan 2023, including some measures that targeted the IRGC. However, a formal designation of the group has yet to be made.

Despite the EU’s claims that it requires more substantial evidence to designate the group as terrorists, the Republican senators contend that Iran’s terrorism plots are sufficiently evident to take action against them. According to the senators, IRGC actions have negatively impacted Europe previously, resulting in the arrest of one IRGC operative in Bulgaria suspected of planning an attack on a synagogue in Sophia. The operatives have also been arrested in Germany in both 2016 and 2022, with the second taking place immediately following an IRGC agent’s disclosure of assassination plots in Germany and France.

The Republican senators believe that the designation of the IRGC as terrorists by the EU will help align the U.S. and EU responses to Russian aggression.