‘Global Club of Terrorists’ Targets IRGC

Date: 20 January 2023 - 21:34

News ID: ۱۱۱۵۵۱

TEHRAN -- The European Parliament voted on Thursday in favor of a non-binding resolution to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corp (IRGC) as a terrorist group, in a hostile move against an institution which is credited for fighting the most violent terror groups, including Daesh.

The bloc said the resolution was a response to Iran’s response to violent riots by hoodlums who wreaked havoc across the country for weeks.

While their resolution is nonbinding, the vote includes a call for the European Council to add the IRGC and its subsidiaries like the Basij and the Quds Force to the European Union’s terrorist list.

“Any country in which the IRGC deploys military, economic, or informational operations should sever and outlaw ties with this agency,” the European Parliament said in a statement on the vote.

The European Parliament also voted for “the expansion of restrictive measures” against Iran for allegedly providing unmanned aerial vehicles to Russia in the ongoing war in Ukraine, which Tehran has repeatedly denied.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian condemned the European Parliament’s vote in a statement.

“It is necessary to respect mutual security in the world of diplomacy and increase mutual trust instead of following the language of threats and unfriendly actions,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

Amir-Abdollahian spoke with EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell about the resolution, saying the European Parliament had acted emotionally in its decision.

According to the top Iranian diplomat, Borrell agreed that the European Parliament’s resolution “included emotions and worries”.

Amir-Abdollahian also said Borrell reassured him that the resolution is non-binding and “merely reflects Europe’s concerns.”

In a tweet on Friday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said “the apartheid Israeli regime is the world’s largest organized terror entity,” whose founder is the UK regime and the U.S. regime is its greatest sponsor.

“The reason behind the anger of the ‘global club of terrorists’ is crystal clear; the IRGC is the world’s largest counter-terrorism institution,” he said.

President Ebrahim Raisi said the Europeans had blacklisted the IRGC out of “desperation”.

“This move is out of desperation which comes after their failed attempts on the streets to deal a blow to Iranian people,” he said, referring to the foreign-backed riots.

Europe thought that it could “stop the Iranian nation” with such measures, he said.

The IRGC, the president said, is an “official force” and part of Iran’s armed forces, adding the EU measure contravenes the international law and the UN Charter.

Parliament speaker Muhammad Baqer Qalibaf said the move would turn the European Union into the biggest sponsor of terrorism.

“IRGC is a unique counter-terrorism organization in the region and in the world,” he said, warning Europe against carrying out Daesh’s wish.

“In case this decision is finalized, the Iranian parliament will certainly adopt a reciprocal action,” he warned.

“We would consider European governments as supporters of terrorism and their troops as terrorists and would treat them in a completely different manner in the region.”

Back in April 2019, the Iranian parliament passed a law designating American forces in West Asia – known as the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) – as a terrorist organization. The move came as a countermeasure against the U.S. blacklisting of the IRGC.

In a statement, Iran’s Army also strongly condemned the illegal move, saying that it exposed the enemies’ grudge against the Islamic establishment in Iran.

“The measure of the European Parliament, which claims to be fighting terrorism, against an anti-terrorist institution is out of their desperation and failure in supporting recent riots in Iran,” read the statement.

The measure, it continued, comes due to “blindly following hostile U.S. policies against the Islamic Revolution” and proves that Europeans submit to the U.S. and “global Zionism.”

The General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces said, “In addition to being unprecedented in international rules and regulations, the recent move by the European Parliament will affect regional and global security, tranquility and peace, and the European Parliament must be careful about its consequences.”

A number of Iranian professors also said the EU measure arises from European countries’ “miscalculations.”

In a statement on Friday, the university professors from across the country condemned the “heinous move” while also voicing their support for the “Revolutionary and popular” IRGC.

“European politicians have correctly acknowledged their defeat against the Iranian nation and understood the authority of the IRGC,” read the statement.

“The IRGC is a legal and official armed force of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” they said. “Designating the army of a country is in contravention of all international rules and norms and is void of any legal and executive value.”

The designation will allow Iran to perform a reciprocal action and consider the troops of all hostile countries as terrorists, the academics stated.

“The IRGC has played the most significant role in countering internal, regional, and global terrorists and European governments are indebted to the braveries of the force in the fight against Daesh terrorists,” the statement read.

The academics called on the European politicians to end enmity towards the Iranian nation and “do not beat the drum of war.”