CSW welcomes the news that the European Union (EU) has designated the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation in response to the Iranian government’s deadly crackdown on civilian protests in recent weeks.
Announcing the decision on 29 January, the EU’s High Representative Ms Kaja Kalas said: ‘This will put [the IRGC] on the same footing as Daesh, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda. Those who operate through terror must be treated as terrorists.’ One of the implications of the decision is that it will effectively criminalise dealings with the IRGC by entities or individuals in EU member states, further impeding its ability to function economically or politically.
In addition, the European Council imposed sanctions on 15 persons and six entities responsible for serious human rights violations in the context of the lethal crackdown on protesters, including a number of IRGC commanders and high-ranking police officers.
In response to nationwide protests which broke out in Iran on 28 December 2025, the government launched what the chair of the UN Fact-Finding Mission has since described as possibly the deadliest crackdown since the 1979 Revolution. According to civil society activists, well over 5,000 unarmed protesters have been killed, with many casualties reportedly shot in the chest or head at close range or from rooftops, and some 16,700 have been arrested in towns and cities across Iran since the demonstrations began, including children. As an internet blackout is slowly being lifted, videos are emerging depicting severe violations, including footage of security officers invading a hospital to detain injured protesters.
The IRGC is the most powerful armed force in Iran, and was created in 1979 after the Islamic Revolution to defend the country's Islamic system. With an estimated 190,000 active personnel, the IRGC has capabilities across land, air and sea, as well as overseeing Iran’s missile and nuclear programmes.
The IRGC’s overseas involvements include providing financial, military, intelligence and technological support to allied governments and armed groups. It also controls the Basij Resistance Force, a paramilitary apparatus inside Iran that has hundreds of thousands of recruits and has been used to suppress public dissent.
The IRGC has not yet been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the United Kingdom (UK). On 28 January UK Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy condemned Iran’s ‘brutal oppression of peaceful protesters’ but said it was a long-standing government policy ‘not to comment on whether a specific organisation is being considered for proscription’.
CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: ‘CSW welcomes this important designation, and we reiterate our condemnation of the appalling violence meted out against protesting civilians since 28 December 2025. Australia, Canada and the US have already classified the IRGC as a terrorist organisation and we urge the UK government to follow suit. We also urge the Iranian authorities to refrain from using violence against unarmed civilians, immediately release all those arrested during the protests, and to respect its obligations under international law by fulfilling the rights articulated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was ratified in 1975, for all Iranian citizens.’