dpa/ap/afp/taz | The European Parliament is pushing for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to be listed as a terrorist organization. At their meeting in Strasbourg, the parliamentarians called on the Council of EU member states in a resolution to classify the Islamic Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. 562 MPs voted for the – legally non-binding – resolution, 9 voted against it, and 57 abstained.
Parliament wants that Extension and strict enforcement of EU restrictive measuresincluding asset freezes and visa bans, it said in a statement. The MPs also condemned the mullahs’ regime’s brutal crackdown on demonstrators and called on the authorities to “immediately stop violence against peaceful demonstrators, stop all executions and end the murder and repression of civilians.”
The US-based group Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said on Friday that the crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran has now left more than 5,000 people dead. HRANA’s figures could not be independently verified. However, the organization had provided reliable figures for previous protests.
The Iranian regime also announced its own death toll for the first time on Wednesday. Accordingly, 3,117 people were killed. The theocracy in Iran has in the past either not reported deaths from unrest or has reported fewer deaths.
Terrorist listing is seen primarily as a symbolic step
The European Parliament resolution said the Iranian leadership’s approach had shifted from deterrence to “strategic elimination,” it said.
At the previous debate in Parliament on Tuesday, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that concrete announcements would be made at a meeting of EU foreign ministers next week. The designation of the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization is on the table, she added.
So far, no consensus has been reached in the EU. The federal government spoke out in favor of thisbut several Member States expressed concerns. According to diplomats, France, Italy and Spain, among others, are slowing down. The decision must be made unanimously.
Listing the Guards as a terrorist organization is seen primarily as a symbolic step. There are already sanctions against the Revolutionary Guards, among other things to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction. All of its assets in the EU must be frozen and economic resources must not be made available.
USA and Iran threaten each other with violence
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has announced the deployment of a “huge fleet” to the Gulf region. “We have sent a lot of ships this way, just in case,” Trump told reporters on board the presidential plane Air Force One on Thursday. “I would prefer if nothing happened, but we are watching them very closely,” he said, referring to the mullahs’ regime in Tehran.
During the week, US media had already reported that the aircraft carrier “USS Abraham Lincoln” had been ordered to the Middle East from maneuvers in the South China Sea. Trump has now confirmed the ongoing preparations. “We are watching Iran,” Trump said. He spoke of an “armada” and a “huge fleet,” but added in a meandering tone: “Maybe we don’t need to use them at all.”
The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard had previously warned the USA and Israel against “miscalculations” and serious consequences of an attack on his country. The Revolutionary Guards have “the finger on the trigger,” explained General Mohammed Pakpur. He warned the United States and Israel not to draw false conclusions from “historical experience” and the Twelve-Day War last June “lest they suffer an even more painful and regrettable fate.”
The USA intervened on Israel’s side in the Twelve-Day War in June. Since then, Trump has repeatedly threatened to launch military operations in Iran againmost recently during the suppression of mass protests a good two weeks ago. The protests were sparked at the end of December by anger over the poor economic situation in Iran, but quickly expanded into mass demonstrations against the leadership in Tehran.