A coalition of Republican senators is pressuring the European Union to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, warning that Tehran’s paramilitary fighting force is "sowing terror in the West."

"The IRGC clearly presents a threat to the EU and our collective security," 12 Republican senators led by Sen. James Risch (R., Idaho), ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote on Wednesday to Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. "It is long past time to cut off its resources before the next tragedy strikes."

The EU has stalled for months on a recommendation by the European Parliament that it designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization and put in place a strict sanctions regime. European countries have been hesitant to move forward with such a designation due to trade relations, but pressure has mounted in the months since Iran began supplying lethal drone technology to Russia for its war in Ukraine. Iran has issued threats of "unwanted legal and political consequences" for Europe if it designates the IRGC as a terrorist group.

Republicans say an EU "designation will cripple the IRGC's ability to promote terrorism and will make the world safer for Americans and Europeans alike," according to a copy of the letter exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The United States designated the IRGC as a global terrorist organization in 2019 (under then president Trump). The decision authorized a bevy of sanctions on the IRGC, its terrorist affiliates, and large portions of Iran’s economic sector that are controlled by the elite fighting force. While the Biden administration initially contemplated removing this designation as part of concessions aimed at securing a revamped version of the 2015 nuclear deal, Republican pushback thwarted that effort.

NEWSRAEL: The ONLY reason that the EU has not designated the IRGC as a terror organization is that they still hope for a "deal" with Iran, and the IRGC runs the Ayatollah's economy. In short - they don't care about the Iranians who are striving to overthrow the Islamist regime  - they only care about MONEY!

Source: Washington Free Beacon