Jan. 29 (UPI) — The European Union on Thursday designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, a symbolic move against the country’s suppression of protesters and human rights abuses.
The EU made the decision in Brussels at a meeting of foreign affairs ministers. It will formally adopt the measure in the coming days, EuroNews reported. The designation will create an asset freeze and ban providing funds. It will also create a travel ban on current members of the IRGC.
“Repression cannot go unanswered,” said Kaja Kallas, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, in a statement. “Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise.”
Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the decision was a “stunt” and a “major strategic mistake,” the BBC reported. He said that the EU was “busy fanning the flames” of war.
The EU also added new sanctions on six entities and 15 people in Iran.
They include Iran’s minister of the interior and head of the National Security Council, Eskandar Momeni, and members of Iran’s judicial system, including Prosecutor General Mohammad Movahedi-Azad and Judge Iman Afshari.
Sanctions also include IRGC commanders and officers of the Law Enforcement Force.
“They were all involved in the violent repression of peaceful protests and the arbitrary arrest of political activists and human rights defenders.”
The entities sanctioned include the Iranian Audio-Visual Media Regulatory Authority, Seraj Cyberspace Organization, the Working Group for Determining Instances of Criminal Content and several software companies.
“These entities were involved in censoring activities, trolling campaigns on social media, spreading disinformation and misinformation online, or contributed to the widespread disruption of access to the Internet by developing surveillance and repression tools,” the EU statement said.
Sanctions and restrictive measures from the EU for human rights violations now apply to 247 people and 50 entities.
The IRGC was created soon after the 1979 revolution to defend the country’s Islamic system. It has about 190,000 active personnel.
The United States, Australia and Canada have already classified the IRGC as a terror group. The United Kingdom has not.
President Donald Trump said Friday that he was sending ships to the region.
“I’d rather not see anything happen but we’re watching them very closely,” Trump said. “We have an armada heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it.”
The Human Rights Activists News Agency said it has confirmed the killing of more than 6,301 people since the protests against high costs and a weak currency began in December.
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