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The European Union Must Label the IRGC as an Official Terrorist Organization

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The European Union Must Label the IRGC as an Official Terrorist Organization

As Iran continues to engage in state sponsored terrorism as well as putting their uranium enrichment program in order to build a nuclear arsenal with the intent of striking Israel and threatening the security of the Western world, the world stand silent in the face of their malevolent intentions.

As is well known, Iran’s enforcers; their terrorist arm are the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. In addition to being an “active and enthusiastic participant in acts of terror,” including the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut and the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers complex in Saudi Arabia, the IRGC also terrorizes their own citizens on the domestic front.

Reuters reported that Iran has been gripped by protests since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini  who died in custody on September 16, after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of Iran’s strict dress rules for women, triggering a wave of unrest and a state response to the “riots” that Amnesty International calls a “brutal crackdown.”

The head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards warned protesters that Saturday would be their last day of taking to the streets, in the clearest sign that security forces would intensify their already fierce crackdown on widespread unrest. Defying the IRGC demonstrators took to the streets on Sunday in Iran and protests were reported in multiple universities, including the capital as well as in Mazandaran and Mashhad, where Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR) said crowds chanted, “Death to the dictator.”

IHR said Friday that at least 160 protesters, including more than two dozen children, had been killed since protests began.

Clearly, the IRGC organizes and participates in both international and domestic terrorist activities. As such, on April 8, 2019, former President Trump announced the naming of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). The designation, which was subject to congressional review, represented the first time the United States had designated an official military organization of a foreign state as an FTO.

According to the Washington Institute’s Matthew Levitt, the United States had defined and sanctioned the IRGC as a terrorist organization long before the Trump administration added the group to the FTO list as part of its “maximum pressure” campaign. At the time, the additional listing was heavy on messaging but had few practical advantages given the numerous actions already taken against the organization.

The IRGC was first designated by the Treasury Department in October 2007 under the counterproliferation authorities of Executive Order 13382. That action also designated the IRGC’s Qods Force branch—though not the IRGC overall—as a terrorist group under E.O. 13224. In June 2011, the department designated the IRGC for its human rights abuses under E.O. 13553. In October 2017, the IRGC in its entirety was designated as a terrorist entity under E.O. 13224. Two years later, the State Department added the organization to the FTO list.

He added that the FTO designation does expose businesspeople to the additional criminal charge of providing material support to terrorists under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (18 USC 2339B) if they knowingly do business with the IRGC.

On top of the numerous Treasury designations, the European Union had banned economic transactions with the IRGC in 2010, and both the U.S. and EU designations remained in place after the 2015 nuclear deal was implemented.

Now, the time has come for the European Union to speak out boldly against terrorism and label the IRGC among the bevy of international terrorist operatives. Yes, Iranian attack drones are being used by the Russian military for use against innocent Ukrainian citizens. And this will not cease at any time in the near future. This evil axis of Russia and Iran will be emboldened unless immediate action takes place.

The rest of Europe is also under threat by Iran and the first stop to protect the people of Europe is for the European Union to call it as it is and boldly proclaim the IRGC as the terrorist group that they are and always have been.

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