The European Union has agreed to add Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to its list of terrorist organizations, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Thursday.
Set up after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Shi'ite clerical ruling system, the Revolutionary Guard Corps has great sway in the country, controlling swathes of the economy and armed forces, and was put in charge of Iran's ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, said that foreign ministers unanimously agreed on the designation. "Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise," she said.
"This will put them on the same footing with al-Qaida, Hamas, Daesh," Kallas said earlier Thursday. "If you act as a terrorist, you should also be treated as a terrorist."
The 27-nation bloc on Thursday also sanctioned 15 Iranian officials, including top commanders of the Revolutionary Guard, over the violent crackdown on protesters. Activists say the crackdown has seen at least 6,373 people killed.
