By Iran Probe staff
The request by some EU members to include Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the terrorist list was a heavy blow to the Iranian regime. The panic followed Iranian authorities taking preventive measures including their usual threats against member states and their representatives. Iran’s Foreign Minister Amirabdollahian described, “Steps taken by the European Parliament to list the organization as terrorist is a shot in the foot of Europe itself”. Amirabdollahian warned that Iran would take “reciprocal measures” in the event of a terrorist listing. These efforts worked and finally EU foreign policy Chief Josep Borrell evaded the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps from being on the terrorist list. Borrell criticized his opponent as, “You cannot say ‘I consider you a terrorist because I don’t like you’,”
The European Parliament’s foreign relations officer announced that putting Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on the terrorist list requires the request of a European country.
Iran’s revolutionary Guards Corps, was saved from terrorist list while they have aimed their weapons at the Iranian people. The number innocent people already killed by IRGC, in the ongoing uprising, exceeds 750. That includes men and women, young and old as well as children, and while this corps has usurped the entire economy of Iran, pushing the rest of the society into poverty and even destitute.
Apart from providing protection for the Supreme leader Khamenei, one of IRGC’s main commitments has been to accomplish Iranian regime’s foreign policy of meddling in the regional countries affairs. IRGC’s military presence in Syria has sustained the atrocious rule of Bashar al-Assad against the will of Syrian people. IRGC has funded and armed the terrorist Hezbollah, which is currently the main obstacle of democracy in Lebanon. It has also been the main cause of war in the region by giving support to terrorist groups in Yemen, Iraq and … .It has destabilized the traffic of ships and cargos in the Persian Gulf. With all that, yes we do not like all this behavior and believe that IRGC should be isolated and put in the terror list.
Let us not forget the agony inflicted upon Iranian population as well as the people in the other regional states, by the misconducts and crimes committed by IRGC. This is often reflected in protests and demonstrations organized in Iran and elsewhere.
… but does Borrell speak for everybody?
Many EU parliamentarians have voiced against Iranian regime and the IRGC.
“The Iranian regime, the Revolutionary Guards terrorise their own population day after day,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
Croatian parliament member Tonino Picula said, “We have to continue to strongly support the Iranian people. It is crucial to call for a decisive European Union response. The Revolutionary Guards must be put on the list of terror organizations. Our message to the regime must be loud and clear: Stop killing your people!”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on in Davos, “We are looking indeed at a new round of sanctions and I would support also listing the Revolutionary Guards. I have heard several ministers asking for that and I think they are right,”
Finland’s Pekka Haavisto said the “appalling” use of capital punishment, stalling on re-establishing a nuclear deal with international powers, delivering arms to Russia and human rights abuses meant it was “important we react strongly.”
Meanwhile, what came out of Tehran may have been one reason for IRGC surviving the terror list. An Iranian lawmaker reacted, “the defenders of the resistance in the region” know very well how to treat those designated as terrorists by Tehran.” He, of course, made his point clearly. By “resistance” forces, the so-called lawmaker was referring to Iran’s proxy groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon including the Hezbollah, Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi, etc.
The philosophy behind EU’s final decision was, “You cannot say ‘I consider you a terrorist because I don’t like you‘,” Should we try to translate these words using a diplomatic dictionary, we may come out with this, “I do not consider you a terrorist because I like you”.
