EU Labels Iran's Revolutionary Guards as Terrorists Amid Ongoing Protests

Mon Feb 02 2026 14:54:54 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

The European Union has officially designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization following Tehran's violent crackdown on protestors, drawing severe reactions from Iran's government.

In a significant political move, the European Union has placed Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on its terrorist list. This decision comes in direct response to the IRGC's brutal repression of recent protests in Iran, which have reportedly resulted in thousands of deaths. EU officials assert that repression must face consequences, while Iran's government denounces the classification as a strategic error. The EU has also imposed new sanctions on key Iranian figures linked to the crackdown.

The European Union has added Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to its terrorist list in response to Tehran's deadly crackdown on protesters in recent weeks.

Repression cannot go unanswered, the bloc's top diplomat Kaja Kallas said, adding the move would put the IRGC—a major military, economic, and political force in Iran—on the same level as jihadists like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the EU decision was a stunt and a major strategic mistake. Human rights groups estimate thousands of protesters were killed by security forces, including the IRGC, during weeks of unrest in December and January.

Speaking in Brussels, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot described the crackdown as the most violent repression in Iran's modern history and insisted there could be no impunity for the crimes committed. France, previously hesitant, shifted its stance and supported the push for the IRGC's blacklisting, led by Italy.

Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise, Kallas stated, while the EU also imposed new sanctions on six entities and 15 individuals involved in the violent suppression of peaceful protests.

These sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes, aimed at dismantling support networks for groups on the EU's terrorist list. The IRGC, established after the 1979 revolution, is Iran's most powerful armed force with an estimated 190,000 personnel.

Following this designation, the Iranian authorities remain defiant, with the country’s military prepared to respond to any aggression, reiterating the tense atmosphere surrounding the EU's declaration and Iran's internal unrest.