The European Union has listed Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a "terrorist organization" in the aftermath of Tehran’s crackdown on nationwide protests, the bloc’s top diplomat said in a post on X on Thursday.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said that foreign ministers unanimously agreed on the designation. She said that “any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise.”
Kallas warned the United States against starting a new Middle East war, as President Donald Trump threatens potential strikes on Iran. "When it comes to attacks, then I think the region does not need a new war," she said.
Tehran's top diplomat on Thursday slammed the European Union's decision as a "major strategic mistake."
"Several countries are presently attempting to avert the eruption of all-out war in our region. Europe is instead busy fanning the flames," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X, as Iran faces off with the United States which has moved a strike force to the Middle East.
"After pursuing 'snapback' at the behest of the U.S., it is now making another major strategic mistake by designating our National Military as a supposed 'terrorist organization'," he added, referring to the return of U.N. sanctions on Iran triggered by key European powers last year.
The listing came after the 27-nation bloc sanctioned 15 Iranian officials, including top commanders in its Revolutionary Guard, over the violent crackdown on protesters.
The sanctions add to international pressures on the Islamic Republic, which faces a threat of military action from U.S. President Donald 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 as at least 6,373 people have been killed in the crackdown, activists said.
For its part, Iran has said it could launch a pre-emptive strike or broadly target the Mideast, including American military bases in the region and Israel. Iran issued a warning to ships at sea Thursday that it planned to run a drill next week that would include live firing in the Strait of Hormuz, potentially disrupting traffic through a waterway that sees 20 percent of all the world's oil pass through it.
