Members of the European Parliament (ECR, EPP, RE & S&D) urge HR/VP Kaja Kallas and President of the European Council António Costa to act to take all the necessary steps to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) an EU terrorist organization.
Brussels, 14 May 2025 – A cross-party group members of the European Parliament (ECR, EPP, RE & S&D) gathered to address the pending issue of the designation of the IRGC on the EU’s list of terrorist organizations and call on the EU to forge ahead. While the European Parliament has repeatedly and firmly demanded for the IRGC to be added to the EU’s list of terrorist organizations, and several EU member states have already put the IRGC on their national terrorist list, the EU continues to hesitate—falling short of the decisive action the moment demands.
The MEPs also announced an initiative to send a letter to VP/HR Kaja Kallas and to the President of the European Council António Costa to take all necessary steps to officially designate the IRGC. The letter will be signed by other MEPs and MPs from EU member states as well.
The MEPs stressed that this designation would not only send an unequivocal message to the Iranian regime that its actions are considered as intolerable by the EU member states, but moreover provides them with the legal framework and necessary tools to effectively counter IRGC operations on the EU soil. At the same time, this decisive move will reaffirm the EU’s unmistakable support for the Iranian people’s aspiration for a free and democratic country, and condemn in the strongest possible term the death penalty as a tool of intimidation and terror.
The event was hosted by MEP Alexandr VONDRA (Former Minister of Defence and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic) and Co-Hosted by MEP Rasa JUKNEVICIENE (Former Minister of Defence of Lithuania), MEP Marie-Agnes STRACK-ZIMMERMANN (Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Security and Defence) and MEP Hannes HEIDE (Former Mayor of Bad Ischl).
During the event, 3 experts took the floor to address the issue from their perspective: Mr Zohar PALTI, Chair of ELNET’s Forum of Strategic Dialogue (as well as Former Director of the Policy and Political-Military Bureau at Israel’s Ministry of Defence and Former Head of the Mossad’s Intelligence Directorate) discussed the threat posed by the IRGC in the Middle East and broader region, and what its destabilizing activities and strategy mean for the security and potential fallout and the implications of Iran’s nuclear aspirations.
Ms Mona JAFARIAN (French Iranian women’s rights activist and Founder of the Femme Azadi association) addressed the dire situation of human rights issues in Iran, specifically Iranian woman and the case of Iranian-based human rights activists and those located in the EU.
Finally, PhD. Afshin ELLIAN (Head of the Department of Jurisprudence at Leiden University) talked about the IRGC as being a serious threat to Europe’s security and elaborated on how the Ayatollahs’ killing machine operates from Lebanon to the United Kingdom, Spain and from within the Netherlands.
Following the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court ruling that found the 2022 attack against the Bochum synagogue in western Germany had been initiated by an Iranian state agency, the EU now holds the legal basis to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization (after Germany brought the judicial decision before the European Council).
To add a new entity to the EU’s terrorist list, the other 26 Member States now have to decide to move forward with the designation and this process is pending and not moving forward.
The European Parliament has recently and repeatedly condemned the systematic repression of human rights in Iran by the IRGC and its hostile acts of aggression in the Middle East and Europe. It demanded for the IRGC to be added to the EU’s terrorist organizations list, most recently through an April 2025 resolution on the implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Common Security and Defence Report.
The French National Assembly has passed a resolution condemning the oppression and terror inflicted on Iranian women, reaffirming their right to unconditional freedom. It calls on France and the EU to designate the IRGC—including the Basij militia and Quds Force—as a terrorist organization.
Many EU Member States have labeled the IRGC a terrorist organization—yet the EU continues to stall. It’s time for a decisive action.