Designating Iran’s Guard a Terrorist? The European Commission unveils the mechanism
There is increasing talk about the Iranian Revolutionary Guard being placed on the European Union’s terror list, whether from certain European countries or within the corridors of the European Parliament.
This week, the European Parliament is debating a draft resolution calling on the bloc to impose new sanctions on Iran, including placing the IRGC on a European terrorist list.
“There will be a debate on a resolution on Iran at the next plenary session of the European Parliament” earlier this week, prominent European MP Hannah Neumann said in a Twitter series.
Neumann, who leads Iran in the European Parliament, said, “The resolution is likely to be voted on Thursday, January 19th.”
German movements
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in a tweet on Monday that “designating the Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization is politically important and logical”.
“Legal obstacles must be removed before listing. That’s why we’ve called the EU to clarify the requirements.”
The German Foreign Ministry said that Germany would increase pressure on Iran, especially on the Revolutionary Guard.
“Therefore, the federal government has started discussions within the framework of the European Union to examine the legal issues for inclusion,” namely the inclusion of the Iranian organization in the lists of terrorists, she said.
In Paris, Anne-Claire Legendre, spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry, told reporters last Tuesday, “As this repression continues, France is working with its European partners to impose new sanctions, without excluding any of them,” in reference to the Revolutionary Guard being designated as a terrorist organization.
The moves are preceded by a key meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council on January 23 in Brussels, where EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss a new wave of sanctions on Iran.
Commission position
But there are some legal obstacles to putting the IRGC on the EU’s terror list, a move that would impose travel restrictions on the leadership of the Iranian organization and freeze its funds on the European continent.
The European Commission said that “any sanctions and listing decisions in the EU are considered confidential in their preparation and adoption, and for this reason we cannot talk about the matter in detail.”
However, the Commission clarified the position of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, saying, “With regard to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps file, the European Union has already included the Revolutionary Guard Corps in four different sanctions regimes: the Human Rights Sanctions Regime, the Ukraine Territorial Integrity Sanctions Regime, the Syria Sanctions Regime and the Weapons of Mass Destruction Sanctions Regime.”
“In order to add an entity such as the Revolutionary Guard to the EU’s terrorist list, the procedure is subject to a decision by the EU member states (of the European Council),” it said.
“Under EU law, the basic (legal) condition for an organization to be included on the EU’s ‘terrorism list’ is the existence of a national decision (in one member state) of a competent national authority, such as a court decision or a prohibition order by an administrative authority,” it said.
“This means that the EU cannot act without such a national decision,” as a legal basis for designating an organization as a terrorist organization.
The European Commission also said that “the EU has already adopted three rounds of sanctions against persons and entities in response to internal repression and human rights violations in Iran and will continue to address any issue of concern, including the way the Iranian authorities are dealing with the protests.”
“The EU takes into account all the options at its disposal.”
Legal Foundation Controversy
Returning to the legal basis for inclusion on the terror lists, Hannah Neumann wrote on Twitter a few days ago, “To be included on the EU’s terror list we need to convict or at least open an investigation against an organization for terrorist acts in at least one member state of the bloc.”
But Christian Union MP Norbert Rutgen, the union’s foreign affairs spokesman, broadened the legal perspective, arguing that the legal basis for designating the IRGC as a terrorist is not confined to issues and files within the EU.
He said: “There is no legal uncertainty [in the classification issue].. The German Foreign Ministry knows that inclusion on terrorism lists can be based on issues outside the EU, but it does not say so publicly,” he said, noting that the Foreign Ministry had mentioned this in a note to the German Parliament.
“There is a decision issued by a criminal court in the United States regarding the involvement of the Revolutionary Guards in terrorism,” he said, noting that the Iranian organization could be included on European terrorism lists on that basis, based on the adherence of US courts to the rule of law.
Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization in the United States, also believes that the legal basis for designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization in the EU already exists.
Brodsky said: “The IRGC has been involved in terrorist plots on European Union territory, having recently tried to assassinate a French citizen in Paris using an Iranian drug dealer.”
“In addition, there was the kidnapping of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and his execution of the dissident Rouhollah Zam, who was in exile in France,” he said.
Previous sanctions
The European Union has imposed sanctions on the entire IRGC over the past 10 years under the WMD sanctions regime, the same sanctions that were imposed once an entity was placed on a European terrorism list.
Under the WMD sanctions regime, the movement and assets of 19 individuals linked to the organization and 11 entities, led by the Revolutionary Guard Corps as a whole, its Air Force and Quds Force, are restricted in connection with Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
