The decision to list the IRGC, which needed the unanimity of the 27 member states, was made possible after France and Spain dropped their opposition to the move.

EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas announced Thursday that the EU has decided to list  Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation in response to the violent crackdown by the Iranian regime against protesters since end of December which killed tens of thousands of people according to some estimates.

This blacklisting will put the IRGC, known as the Pasdarans, the elite force which reports directly to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei,  on the same level as Hamas, Hezbollah, Daesh and Al Qaeda, Kallas said.

“If you act as a terrorist, you should also be treated as a terrorist,’’ she added at a prss conference following a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels.

”Any regime that kills thousands of its own people;is working toward its oiwn demise,” Kallas wrote on X.

The decision to list the IRGC, which needed the unanimity of the 27 member states, was made possible after France and Spain dropped their opposition to the move.

According to Kallas, the decision of the countries to drop their opposition came after the violence of crackdown and the victims figures became clear in the last days.

Asked if in the wake of the decision to blacklist the IRGC the EU would back a U.S. military strike against Iran, she replied: ”The region doesn’t need a new war.”

EU ministers also imposed sanctions on those responsible for the brutal crackdown of protests, including the Iranian Minister of Interior. ” Repression cannot go unanswered. Beyond this, ministers adopted new sanctions on those involved in Iran’s war support to Russia, and expanded export controls,” Kallas said.

”Ministers were clear that Iran must release all those unjustly detained, including the European Union citizens. Going forward, we must be ready to further increase pressure on the authorities and continue supporting Iran’s civil society,” she added.