EU agreement: Iran's Revolutionary Guards go on terror list

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said: "The Iranian Revolutionary Guards and their auxiliaries are the Iranian regime's henchmen. They are the ones who act with immeasurable brutality against their own people, who have literally executed their own people because they dared to raise their voices in the streets."

In addition, the Revolutionary Guards are also responsible for the destabilizing role that Iran is playing in the region and are behind attempted attacks in Germany and Europe. "In short: they have blood on their hands," said the CDU politician.

The classification of the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group is considered a significant symbol, even if it is unlikely to have much practical significance due to existing sanctions. The reason for this is that the elite armed forces are regarded as the main pillar of the Islamic Republic and report directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. They play a key role in the brutal suppression of protests because they are also responsible for preventing attempted coups.

Ministers speak of up to 30,000 dead

According to estimates by human rights organizations, thousands of people were killed in the recent serious unrest in Iran. Several foreign ministers from EU states even spoke on Thursday of possibly up to 30,000 victims. There are also said to have been tens of thousands of arrests. In order to prevent the dissemination of information about demonstrations and victims, the Iranian leadership imposed far-reaching telephone and internet blocks several weeks ago.

Wadephul said that the listing of the guards was urgently necessary because of the events in Iran and called the political leadership an "unjust regime". The way in which people were bludgeoned, tortured, thrown into prisons and even shot or hanged was so dramatic that there had to be a clear reaction from the European Union as a community of values, said the CDU politician.

The decision on the Revolutionary Guards was preceded by a formal decision on sanctions against 31 other actors from Iran. They are also accused of being partly responsible for the brutal suppression of the protests and Iran's continued support for the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

Sanctions also against the interior minister

Those affected include Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, Prosecutor General Mohammad Movahedi-Azad and the head of the Public Security Police, Seyed Majid Feiz Jafari.

The listing of the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization has been discussed in the EU for years - intensively after the major Iranian attack on Israel in April 2024, among other things. Until this Thursday, however, the necessary consensus could not be reached. Most recently, France, in particular, blocked the move, citing the fact that the Revolutionary Guards are already subject to EU sanctions as one of the reasons for its rejection.

For more than ten years, the latter have prohibited the organization and its members from being provided with funds or economic resources. They also stipulate that funds and other assets of the Revolutionary Guards in the EU must be frozen. These punitive measures were enacted primarily to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by Iran.

Concern for French citizens

France's restraint was also seen in connection with two French citizens still stuck in Tehran. The teacher couple Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris were arrested in Iran in 2022 and sentenced to 17 and 20 years in prison for espionage in October. Although they have since been released from prison, they are waiting at the French embassy in Tehran for the green light to leave the country. This may take place as part of a prisoner exchange with an Iranian woman on trial in Paris for glorifying terrorism.

For security reasons, German Foreign Minister Wadephul did not want to comment on Thursday on the number of Germans who could possibly be the target of retaliatory measures in Iran. "Of course we are constantly concerned about all German citizens," he said. At the same time, however, the German government and Europe should never be open to blackmail.

Düsseldorf ruling could be the basis

According to an analysis by the EU Council Legal Service, a ruling by the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court from 2023 could serve as the basis for listing the Revolutionary Guards. In the ruling, an Iranian state agency was found to be responsible for an attempted arson attack on a synagogue in Bochum. At that time, a German-Iranian was sentenced to a total of two years and nine months imprisonment for conspiracy to commit aggravated arson and attempted arson (case number III-6 StS 1/23).

Prior to the legal service's analysis of the verdict, EU authorities had always emphasized that a terror listing of the elite forces was currently not legally possible because it would require a national court decision or a prohibition order from an administrative authority. There were also reservations at the time because it was feared that such a decision could have a negative impact on the negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.

Rubio assesses Iranian leadership as weak as never before

At the foreign ministers' meeting, the plans of US President Donald Trump, who recently did not rule out military strikes against Iran's political leadership, were the subject of much speculation. Wadephul said he hoped that disputes over Iran's missile program and possible nuclear armament of the country could be resolved diplomatically. "Because nobody needs a new, further conflict," he added.

Meanwhile, at a Senate hearing in Washington, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed skepticism that the Iranian leadership is still capable of acting at all. He described it as weaker than ever before and attested that it was no longer in a position to address the economic collapse and widespread grievances in the country. In his view, the protests will therefore flare up again. The Iranian leadership, on the other hand, argues that the international sanctions alone are to blame for the economic crisis.