Iran warned on Tuesday of “devastating consequences” should the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) be placed on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations, according to state media, after Italy’s foreign minister urged Brussels to move forward with such a designation.
Italian Antonio Tajani said on Monday that he would raise the proposal “in coordination with other partners” during a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels later this week.
Iran is facing renewed international pressure following its violent suppression of nationwide protests. What began on December 28 as demonstrations over economic hardship in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar quickly escalated into the most serious legitimacy crisis for Iran’s clerical establishment in decades, spreading across the country as protesters demanded political change.
Security forces eventually quelled the unrest, which subsided earlier this month, using what observers described as the bloodiest crackdown since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.