Despite a push by Germany and Baltic countries, designating the IRGC as a terrorist entity is not yet on the table of EU ministers.

‘’The sooener the Europeans can recognize that there is a uniting leader for the Iranian opposition, the stronger and the more empowered the uprising will be . There is only one name that is popping up not only in te streets of Tehran but also across the nation, that is Reza Pahlavi.”

European Union Foreign Ministers will consider later this month additional sanctions against the Iranian regime  following the violent and deadly repression of protests around the country.

But while several member states, including Germany, pushed during a meeting last week of the EU political and Security committee,  for the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist entity,  such a move  is not yet on the table of the Foreign Affairs Council which will meet on January 29.

Also known as the Pasdaran,  the Guardians of the Revolution were formed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution as an armed force parallel to the regular army. It answering directly to the so-called Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The IRGC is a central pillar of Iran’s power structure, directly involved in its institutions and political decision-making.

Designating it as a terrorist organisation would place it on the same level as groups such as ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, triggering EU entry bans, asset freezes and restrictions on funding. Such a move would have a significant impact on the international standing and legitimacy of the Iranian state as a whole.

It is an organisation, with political, economic and military branches, operating also terrorist activities beyond Iran’s borders, together with Iran’s proxies such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

The EU has already listed the IRGC under the weapons of mass destruction sanctions regime, and individual IRGC officers are currently subject to Europe’s global human rights sanctions regime (Magnitsky Act). But these  measures are not equivalent to a formal terrorist designation.

There  is still  no consensus wuithin the EU on listing the organisation as a whole. Such a move would need unanimity of member states. Germany and the Baltic states are pushing for it.

The U.S. designated the IRGC as a terrorist organisation in 2019, citing its involvement in plots, support for terrorism and the killing of US citizens. Canada and Australia followed suit.

Last week, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola took the unprecedented step of banning all Iranian diplomats and government officials from entering the premises of the parliament in Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg. She also called for tougher sanctions on Tehran and for listing the IRGC as a terrorist group in the EU, following German Green MEP Hannah Neumann, who chairs the Parliament’s delegation for relations with Iran, and Swedish MEP Charlie Weimers, who had earlier come out in favour of the move.

In 2023, the European Parliament once again condemned the IRGC’s role in repressing protests following the death of Mahsa Amini. In 2022, she was detained and died in state custody in relation to state-imposed religious dress.

Germany and the Baltic States are now pushing to discuss the IRGC listing as a terrorist entity out of concern about ongoing violence against protesters in Iran with already more than 10,000 people killed by the regime forces according to some reports.

Italy, France and Spain have reportedly not yet made a decision on the move.

For now, the EU proposed sanctions to be discussed at the Foreign Affairs Council  will be limited to add 21 individuals involved in the violent repression of anti-regime protests in the country to its sanctions list, according to Euractiv.

The new sanctions under consideration by countries would also cover 10 entities manufacturing drone technology.

The EU should engage with Reza Pahlavi, the prominent figure of Iran’s oppisition

Another call heard in the EU circles is for the EU leaders to speak to with Reza Pahlavi, the exiled Crown Prince, son of the late Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who ruled Irtan until the Islamic revolution  in 1979.

For the European Coalition for Israel (ECI), the Islamic Republic has lost all legitimacy and EU member states should draw conclusions from this by severing all diplomatic ties with the Islamic regime. Instead, they should engage in talks with Iranian leaders, such as Reza Pahlavi, who represent the future.

The Iranian opposition, which has been divided for years, is now increasingly uniting behind Reza Pahlavi as the leader for a transitional period. In various interviews with international media in recent days, he spoke of an orderly regime change while maintaining stability and institutional continuity. His plans require international recognition and support, also from the EU.

These conclusions emerged last week during a discussion about the current uprising in Iran in the framemork of the monthly European Coalition for Israel’s European Report recorded on the studio of the European Parliament in Brussels.

Tomas Sandell, ECI’s founding director, and Latvian MEP Rihards Kols , a member of the influential committee on floreign affairs, discussed the topic with program host  Yossi Lempkowicz., editor-in-chief of the European Jewish Press.

‘’The Iranian people have shown the world that this regime doesn’t represent the Iranian nation.. This reglme is illegitimate. A leadership that for its survival uses violence is finished, it has no future whatsover,’’ said MEP Kols, who is a member of the influential European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

‘’This showed that authoritarian regilmes can no loinger deliver prosperity and wealth when they start to use repression, oppression. It is only a question of time when they will collapse,’’ he added.

‘’Keep organizing, keep documenting. The future belongs to you, not to the people with weapons,’’ was his message to the Iranian people.

A message to EU Foreign Ministers

The European Coalition for Israel’s message to EU Foreign Ministers was that words are no longer enough and that concrete steps are needed. ‘’The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, should be immediately designated as a terrorist organization. European Union member states must suspend diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic and remove its diplomats from European territory,’’ said Tomas Sandell.

‘’The sooner the Europeans can recognize that there is uniting leader for the Iranian opposition, the stronger and the more empowered the uprising will be . There is only one name that is popping up not only in te streets of Tehran but also across the nation, that is Reza Pahlavi,” he said.

‘’That doesn’t mean that he or the people who support him are trying to reestablish a monarchy. That has to be decided in democratic elections. Look at what has happened in Spain they went from fascism to constitutional moarchy, they needed a firgure head, at that time it was Juan Carlos. Iran would need such a stabilizing force at this time and he is propared, he has a plan of what will happen in the first hundred days.’’

‘’My concrete message to Roberta Metsola, Kaja Kallas and Ursula von der Leyen : sit down with the leader of this opposition. The sooner you do it the more clearer it will appear that you read the sitution correctly compared to the Arab Spring,’’ he added.