Iranian citizens are engaged in mass protests against the Iranian regime. The government’s response has been brutal. Demonstrators have been killed, arrested, and prosecuted, with some being sentenced to death.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is at the forefront of this repressive and deadly conduct, which represents an attempt to seriously intimidate Iran’s population, and is consistent with its direct global terrorist activities and sponsorship of terrorist organisations abroad. The EU should therefore designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.

On 23 January 2023, the Vice President / High Representative (VP/HR) stated in response to calls for such a designation that:

‘A court decision [is needed] first. It has to be [done] when a court of one [of the] Member States issues a legal statement, a concrete condemnation. And then we work at the European level, but it has to be first a court decision.’

Regarding Common Position 2001/931/CFSP[1], does the VP/HR:

1. accept that the activities of the IRGC constitute terrorist acts?
2. accept that decisions by a competent authority can include those from third countries, and are not restricted to decisions by the courts of Member States?
3. believe that potential decisions by the UK and Canadian authorities regarding the designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organisation could be deemed relevant decisions by a competent authority?

See the answer given by High Representative/Vice-President Borrell i Fontelles on behalf of the European Commission