The recent Hamas surprise attack on Israel has shocked us deeply. We condemn these
terrorist acts in the strongest possible terms and reiterate our commitment to the security of the
democratic state of Israel. While Israelis suffer from the loss of too many lives, we wish to
reaffirm our support and deep solidarity for the Israeli people. Israel has the right to defend
itself against such heinous attack and this horrific violence.
According to revelations in the Wall Street Journal on October 8, there is every reason
to believe that this attack was coordinated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards and that the
authoritarian regime played a role with its financial and operational support. As they underlined
it, Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers, together with officials from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and
Hezbollah, have been setting up this complex operation in meetings held in Beirut since August.
The agreement would have been reached at a meeting in Beirut on October 2.
Beyond condemnation, Europe has an influence and a role to play. There is obviously a
symbolic and political purpose in naming things. This terrorist group massacres civilians,
whether the Israeli people or its own population in Iran. The murder of the young Iranian woman
Masha Jina Amini by the morality police on September 16, 2022 has already led the EU to
embark on a policy of stepping up sanctions against dignitaries of the Islamic Republic. While
the Iranian people revolted, the anti-democratic regime aided by the Pasdaran continued to
sentence opponents to death and carry out arbitrary arrests. The Revolutionary Guards openly
support and participate in terrorism, regional instability and the repression of Iranian youth.
Furthermore, by supplying armed drones to Russia, Iran has once again demonstrated its role
in destabilizing the international order. In light of these revelations and their links to terrorism
in Israel, our sanctions policy must go even further.
In January 2023, the European Parliament has already adopted a resolution calling on
the EU to make this designation, and the Council of the EU must take it up as a matter of
urgency. Classifying the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization would mean the end
of all economic and political relations between the European Union and them. This would entail
the freezing of all funds and other financial assets belonging to them. Since the Russian invasion
of Ukraine, the Islamic Republic has developed extensive trading networks in nine countries in
the region, and all these parallel markets are coordinated by the Revolutionary Guards. Listing
the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization would compel international banking and
financial authorities to halt all transactions with them. If such a decision were taken, any contact
whatsoever would be considered illegal under international law. This could lead to the isolation
of this organization and greatly reduce the Islamic Republic’s room for maneuver and its
harmful influences in the region
On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of the European Union will meet in council to decide
of the responses to this attack. There is abundant legal evidence of Revolutionary Guards
activity in several European countries It is ultimately a political decision that must be taken
now. The question of recognizing the Pasdaran as a terrorist organization must be one of
them. What is happening today in Israel must be a collective awakening. We cannot wait any
longuer.

Open letter co-signed by MEP Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou on October 9, 2023

Read the entire letter here.