EU widens sanctions on Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps

The European Union has added another 37 Iranian politicians, military personnel and organisations to its sanctions list for their involvement in the crackdown on the country's protest movement. Adding the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the European terror list is currently not possible.

The names of the 18 individuals and 19 entities were listed in the Official Journal of the European Union on Monday. Among them are several MPs and Sports and Youth Minister Hamid Sajjadi, whom the EU holds responsible for "the pressure put on Iranian athletes to remain silent and not speak out internationally about repression in Iran". In addition, the EU added four commanders and 12 military units of the Revolutionary Guards.

Meanwhile, the EU has imposed sanctions on more than 100 Iranian individuals and organisations over the brutal repression of the protest movement that emerged in the wake of Mahsa Amini's death in September. Member states must block any assets of these individuals and entities on their territory. European individuals and organisations are also banned from allocating funds to them. The individuals in question will also be prohibited from entering EU countries.

"You cannot say: I consider you a terrorist because I don't like you. That can only be done after a court in a member state has issued a concrete conviction."

Last week, the European Parliament called for the Revolutionary Guards as a whole to be added to the European list of terrorists and terrorist organisations, but that is not yet possible, according to High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell. "You cannot say: I consider you a terrorist because I don't like you. That can only be done after a court in a member state has issued a concrete conviction", he explained on the sidelines of a meeting with European foreign ministers.

In recent days, the fundamentalist Islamic regime in Tehran had threatened countermeasures if the EU placed Iran's elite corps on the terror list. As a response, European armies could end up on the Iranian terror list.

(BRV)

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell © PHOTO John THYS / AFP