Iranian authorities the EU measures after labels IRGC a ‘terrorist’ group.

Iranian authorities the EU measures  after labels IRGC a ‘terrorist’ group.

The European Union has designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a “terrorist organisation” over a deadly crackdown on antigovernment protests in the country.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday that the bloc’s foreign ministers took a “decisive step” in labelling the IRGC as a “terrorist” group.

“Repression cannot go unanswered,” Kallas wrote on social media. 

“Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise.”

The Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned the decision, saying the move was “illegal, political and contrary to international law” as well as a violation of the country’s internal affairs.

It also said Tehran “reserves the right to take appropriate measures within the framework of international law to defend its sovereignty, national security, and the interests of the Iranian nation, and holds the European Union and its member states responsible for the consequences of this action”.

Established after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the IRGC is an elite branch of the country’s military that answers directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and oversees the Iranian missile and nuclear programmes.

Separately on Thursday, the European Council also announced new sanctions against 15 individuals and six entities it said were “responsible for serious human rights violations in Iran” following the protest crackdown.

The targeted individuals include Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni and Prosecutor General Mohammad Movahedi-Azad, the council said in a statement.

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