EU: Iran's Revolutionary Guard Are Terrorists

The European Union has listed Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization over Tehran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests, the bloc's top diplomat said in an X post on Thursday. Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, said that foreign ministers unanimously agreed on the designation. "Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise," she said, per the AP. "This will put them on the same footing with al-Qaida, Hamas, Daesh [ISIS]," Kallas said earlier Thursday. "If you act as a terrorist, you should also be treated as a terrorist."

The 27-nation bloc on Thursday also sanctioned 15 Iranian officials, including top commanders of the Revolutionary Guard, over the violent crackdown on protesters. Activists say the crackdown has seen at least 6,373 people killed. The EU on Thursday also sanctioned six organizations in Iran, including those involved in monitoring online content, as the country remains gripped by a three-week internet blackout by authorities. The sanctions mean that affected officials and organizations will have their assets frozen and their travel to Europe banned, French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said earlier Thursday.

The measures, while largely symbolic, add to international pressures on Iran, which faces a threat of military action from President Trump in response to the killing of peaceful demonstrators and over possible mass executions. The American military has moved the USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers into the Mideast. It remains unclear whether Trump will decide to use force. The Revolutionary Guard holds vast business interests across Iran, and sanctions could see any of its assets in Europe seized. Iran already struggles under the weight of multiple international sanctions from countries, including the US and Britain.