European Union foreign ministers took the first step on Thursday to include it on the EU list of terrorist organizations, a largely symbolic decision since it is already subject to a wide range of European sanctions, including some aimed at preventing nuclear proliferation.
He does so when pressure increases against the ayatollah regime for its repression against the protesters that, for more than a month, the country has been facing. NGOs estimate that more than 6,000 people have already been murdered.
This has led the United States to threaten Tehran: if it does not stop, if it does not stop its weapons projects and if it does not agree to an agreement on its nuclear research, . To support his words, the American president, , has ordered a significant military deployment in the Middle East.
What is the list
The EU first adopted restrictive measures against individuals and entities involved in acts of terrorism in December 2001, following the terrorist attacks of September 11 of that year.
The EU list was established to apply the and includes organizations such as Al Qaeda or the Islamic State.
All included persons, groups and entities are subject to measures related to the freezing of funds and financial assets and to police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.
The reasons
The decision to include the IRGC comes after the repression of massive protests against the Iranian regime this month, in which 3,117 people died, according to the official Iranian version, a figure that opposition human rights organizations such as , based in the US, place at 6,373, with thousands of reports of homicides not yet confirmed and more than 40,000 arrests.
“Repression cannot go unanswered,” said yesterday the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security, while the President of the European Commission, stated that “‘terrorist’ is, in effect, what is called a regime that bloodily crushes the protests of its own people.”
The effects
Diplomatic sources had pointed out the day before that the IRGC is already on the list of sanctions regimes against Iran – both as an entity and many of its members – and that, with regard to the freezing of assets and the prohibition of transfers, it is already affected, so “in practice the added value of including it as a terrorist organization is very limited.”
In fact, in 2011 the EU introduced a regime made up of restrictive measures specifically directed against , which have been renewed annually since then.
Since 2022, the EU has dramatically increased restrictive measures, adopting multiple sanctions packages in the context of growing concerns about the human rights situation in Iran.
Furthermore, on July 20, 2023, the Council established a specific framework for sanctions in light of Iran’s military support for Russia’s war against Ukraine and, in May 2024, its scope was expanded in light of Iran’s military support for armed groups in and the Red Sea region and the drone and missile attacks that Iran carried out against Israel in April of that year.
Two armed members of the Iranian police special forces, behind a flag placed on an armored vehicle, during a pro-government demonstration in Tehran, on January 12, 2026.
Years of debates…
The possibility of placing the IRGC on the community list of terrorist organizations had been on the Council’s table for years. It gained strength again following the murder of the young Iranian woman in police custody in September 2022 after having been arrested for allegedly wearing the Islamic veil incorrectly.
That death sparked demonstrations that were harshly repressed by the Iranian authorities with nearly 500 dead, some 20,000 arrested and the subsequent executions of around twenty people.
…and reluctance
The decision, which required unanimity of the Twenty-Seven, was possible because some of the most reluctant countries, such as Spain and France, which had asked to carefully gauge the possible consequences of the measure, joined the majority.
Some Member States had emphasized the security impact for their own citizens, taking into account the common practice of detaining Europeans in Iranian prisons without apparent justification.
Diplomatic repercussions
Kallas assured that “the risks have been calculated” and specified that “the diplomatic part is outside” of the Revolutionary Guard: “Interactions with the (Iranian) Foreign Minister are not subject to this. Therefore, the estimate is that diplomatic channels will remain open,” he added.
For its part, Iran on Thursday described the designation of the IRGC as terrorist as “another strategic mistake” and accused the EU of hypocrisy over its stance in Gaza and of harming its own interests.
Next steps
Following the informal agreement reached yesterday, the EU must formally approve the decision, by unanimously adopting the legal acts in the Council.
Will Trump attack?
Right now, the biggest underlying question is whether he will attack the US, as Trump has threatened, and if he does, . This morning, confirms the inclination to carry out the coup that the North American Government has, after the reluctance of recent weeks. “In recent days, President Trump has received an expanded list of possible military options against Iran, aimed at causing further damage to the country’s nuclear and missile facilities or weakening the Iranian supreme leader, according to several US officials,” the newspaper states.
The options go beyond proposals Trump was considering two weeks ago to make good on his promise to stop the killing of protesters by Iranian government security forces and affiliated militias, officials told the newspaper. “The current set of options even includes the possibility of US forces conducting raids on sites inside Iran, and comes in a different context now that the protests have been brutally repressed, at least for the moment,” he insists.
Trump has been demanding that Iran take additional steps to end its attempt to build a nuclear weapon and stop its support for actors that have long attacked Israel and destabilized the Middle East. He and his top advisers are considering whether to follow through on threats of military action to achieve those goals and possibly bring about a change of government.
Trump has not yet authorized military action or chosen among the options presented by the Pentagon, the newspaper says. “The president remains open to finding a diplomatic solution and some officials acknowledged that announcing threats of military action was intended to incite the Iranians to negotiate. In recent days, he has reflected on whether regime change would be a viable option,” he says.
In the case of Iran, officials are skeptical that Tehran will accept the conditions posed by the United States. These include permanently ceasing uranium enrichment and giving up all of its current nuclear stockpiles, starting with the more than 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to near-bomb-grade levels. However, most of that material remains buried under the rubble of the June attacks.
