EU’s Borrell says court decision needed for IRGC terrorist designation

Chenar Chalak

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell on Monday said that a court decision was required in order to add Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to the EU’s terror list, days after the European parliament called on the council to designate the Iranian forces.

Members of the European parliament on Wednesday voted on a non-binding resolution to add the IRGC on its terror blacklist “in light of its terrorist activity, the repression of protestors and its supplying of drones to Russia.”

“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 upon arriving for the EU foreign affairs council in Brussels.

Work on the European level will begin once a EU member state court has issued a “concrete” condemnation, Borrell added.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian criticized the EU’s “inappropriate” approach in a phone call with Borrell last week, stressing that the IRGC is an official institution that plays an important role in Iran’s national security.

The spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry Nasser Kanaani told reporters on Monday that “necessary warnings” were given to Borrell during the phone call with Amir-Abdollahian.

Amir-Abdollahian on Sunday said that the country’s parliament will hand a terror blacklist to European armies if the EU parliament’s resolution goes through.

The Swedish Presidency of the EU Council said that the EU ministers imposed a fresh package of sanctions on Iran during Monday’s meeting, targeting those in charge of repressing the protests.

Protests spread across the Islamic republic in the aftermath of the death of young Kurdish woman Zhina (Mahsa) Amini at the hands of the morality police in September, sparking a violent crackdown by Iranian security forces, particularly the IRGC and its paramilitary Basij.

At least 525 protesters, including 71 children, have been killed and over 19,500 have been arrested since the protests began almost four months ago, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) on Monday.

The US has had the IRGC as well as its foreign Quds Force on its terror blacklist since 2019.