EU can’t declare Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as terrorists, says foreign policy chief Borrell

The European Union can’t declare Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)—which has been clamping down on Mahasa Amini death protesters—a terrorist entity until the directive comes from a court of the EU member, its foreign policychief Josep Borrell said on Monday.

He made his remarks in response to a joint call by the European Parliament last week asking the EU Council to declare IRGC a terrorist organisation, accusing them of supplying drones to Russia and for the crackdown on anti-regime agitators.

"It is something that cannot be decided without a court, a court decision first. You cannot say I consider you a terrorist because I don't like you," Josep Borrell told reporters before a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels.

He added that the court of an EU member had to issue a concrete legal condemnation before the EU itself could act.

"It is something that cannot be decided without a court, a court decision first. You cannot say I consider you a terrorist because I don't like you," Borrell told reporters ahead of the meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels, reports Reuters news agency.

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He, however, said that sanctions against individual Iranians could be considered by the council.

On Saturday, the IRGC warned the EU against committing any such “mistake” and told them to prepare for consequences if they move forward with the proposal.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday warned the European Union against making a “mistake” by listing it as a terror group, after the bloc’s parliament called for the measure.

“If the Europeans make a mistake, they must accept the consequences,” IRGC chief Major General Hossein Salami said, according to the Guards’ Sepah News website.

The European Union “thinks that with such statements it can shake this huge army,” Salami said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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