EU blacklists Iran’s IRGC as Tehran warns of consequences
Shafaq News– Brussels
The European Union formally designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced on Thursday, amid Western pressure against Tehran.
On X, Kallas confirmed that EU foreign ministers approved the move in response to Iran’s “repression” of its own population. She accused Tehran of killing thousands of citizens, arguing that such actions “cannot go unanswered.”
Repression cannot go unanswered.EU Foreign Ministers just took the decisive step of designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation. Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise.
— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) January 29, 2026
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the sanctions, describing the designation as “long overdue.”
I welcome the political agreement on new sanctions against the murderous Iranian regimeAnd on the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.This was long overdue.« Terrorist » is indeed how you call a regime that crushes its own…
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) January 29, 2026
Tehran condemned the decision, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accusing European governments of “fanning the flames.” The listing, he argued, follows Washington’s lead and ignores what he described as Israeli crimes in Gaza, warning that the step risks fueling a wider conflict that would ultimately harm Europe, particularly through energy market disruptions.
Several countries are presently attempting to avert the eruption of all-out war in our region. None of them are European.Europe is instead busy fanning the flames. After pursuing 'snapback' at the behest of the U.S., it is now making another major strategic mistake by…
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) January 29, 2026
In a statement carried by Iranian media, Iran’s General Staff of the Armed Forces also described the designation as “irrational and hostile,” charging the EU with acting under US and Israeli pressure. The move, it said, violates international law, the UN Charter, and state sovereignty, while defending the IRGC as a legitimate national institution involved in counterterrorism, including operations against ISIS. European leaders would bear responsibility for any consequences, it warned.
Founded after Iran’s 1979 revolution, the IRGC has evolved into a dominant force within the country, wielding extensive military, political, and economic influence. It oversees key elements of Iran’s missile program and plays a central role in Tehran’s regional operations.
European momentum toward blacklisting the IRGC has intensified since early 2023, when the European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution urging such action over the force’s role in suppressing protests, conducting regional military activities, and supplying drones to Russia for use in Ukraine. The United States designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization in 2019, a step later taken by Canada, Australia, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and several Latin American countries.
Alongside the IRGC designation, the EU also imposed sanctions on Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, Prosecutor General Mohammad Movahedi Azad, and Judge Iman Afshari, citing their alleged involvement in the violent repression of peaceful protests and the arbitrary arrest of political activists and human rights defenders, according to the Council of the European Union.
