EU slaps sanctions on IRGC and Iranian state entities

On 29 January, the EU added the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — a key proponent of Tehran’s security apparatus and economy — to its list of terrorist organisations.

They announced on the same day sanctions against a further 15 individuals and six entities in Iran, citing involvement in “serious human rights violations”. The move responds to Iran’s violent crackdown on anti-government protests which began last month.

Meanwhile, the US is building up military power near Iran, with president Trump deploying the military “armada” to the Middle-East, as the clouds of war loom.

Deadly crackdown

Regarding the protests, Bloomberg reported that:

Demonstrations erupted in Tehran late last month after the rial tumbled to a record low, pushing up the price of staples and deepening an economic crisis tied to the sanctioned country’s global isolation. Protests have since spread across Iran, spurring its authoritarian religious and military leadership to threaten severe repercussions for what they call “rioters.”

Iranian authorities imposed an internet blackout across the country back on 8 January. Because of this, it has been difficult to assess the scale of the violence perpetrated by security forces. Although international news organisations have had little access to Iran, BBC has verified videos of security forces firing live ammunition at protesters.

The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group has estimated that the death toll could top 25,000. However, Tehran has said that only 3,100 people were killed, who it accused of attacking bystanders and security personnel.

‘Repression cannot go unanswered’

In response to Iran’s deadly repressive actions, Italy spearheaded a push within the EU to add the IRGC to its terror list.

This wasn’t the first time the designation had been suggested. However, France previously opposed the move, fearful that sanctions would dent  diplomatic relations with Iran.

However, on 28 January, France abandoned its usual line on Iran. Instead, it added its political weight to the push to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. The EU’s addition of the IRGC to the terror list sees it ranked alongside the likes of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

The IRGC is Iran’s primary armed force. It boasts land, air, and sea capabilities, along with an estimated 190,000 active personnel. It also controls the Basij Resistance Force, a paramilitary group within Iran that numbers in the hundreds of thousands.

On 29 January, EU high representative Kaja Kallas posted on social media:

Repression cannot go unanswered. EU Foreign Ministers just took the decisive step of designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation. Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise.

In designating the IRCG as a terrorist force, the EU joins the US, Canada and Australia. Other countries have already made similar moves.

Sweeping sanctions

The other 15 individuals subject to EU sanctions include members of Iran’s judicial system, several IRGC commanders, ranking officers of the police and the Law Enforcement Force (LEF), and Eskandar Momeni, the head of Iran’s National Security Council.

The European Council specifically cited their use of violence, arbitrary detention, and censorship during the protests.

Meanwhile, the sanctioned entities were those responsible for the internet blackout and censorship activities. They consisted of the Seraj Cyberspace Organization, Iranian Audio-Visual Media Regulatory Authority (SATRA), Working Group for Determining Instances of Criminal Content (WGDICC), and three software companies.

In its statement, the European Council explained:

Restrictive measures related to human rights violations in Iran now apply to a total of 247 individuals and 50 entities. They consist of an asset freeze, travel bans to the EU, and a prohibition to make funds or economic resources available to those listed.

However, in spite of the sanctions and re-designation of the IRGC, Kallas reportedly expects that the EU’s diplomatic channels with Iran will remain open.

‘Fanning the flames’

For his part, Abbas Araghchi — the Iranian foreign minister — dismissed the EU’s pronouncement as a “stunt” and a “major strategic mistake”.

He highlighted that the US was clearly amassing military power within close reach to ran. Araghchi stated that rather than trying to prevent “all-out war in our region”, the EU was “busy fanning the flames”.

Araghchi also stated that Iran’s military was waiting “with their fingers on the trigger”, and would “immediately” respond to a US attack.

Regarding the American forces amassing near Iran, the Canary’s Joe Glenton explained:

The presence of a credible military force, the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, tells its own story. The Lincoln – with her gigantic airpower and accompanying warships — was rerouted on short notice from the Indo-Pacific to the Arabian sea for whatever task Trump envisions.

Trump insists on referring to the fleet as his “beautiful armada” and has pulled US troops out of Qatar. He has talked about protecting protestors as part of his rationale, but also about forcing Iran into submission over a nuclear deal.

Questions currently hang over whether Trump’s military power in the region is intended as a show of force, or is a prelude to US strikes on Iran. When asked if he planned to hold talks with Tehran, Trump stated:

I have had and I am planning on it. Yes, we have a lot of very big, very powerful ships sailing to Iran right now, and it would be great if we didn’t have to use them.

On the brink

Economic sanctions from the UN and US have already made it near-impossible for Iranian nationals to buy foreign currencies, having cut them off from global banking. Likewise, America also sanctions massive shares of trade with Iran, particularly in the oil markets.

This, in large part, contributed to the recent collapse of the Iranian rial and the country’s soaring cost of living. And, in turn, the economic collapse helped spark the last month of deadly protests. In spite of Trump’s posturing about helping the demonstrators, he clearly worked to engineer this very situation.

Meanwhile, the EU’s designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organisation is a highly unusual move. Typically, the European Council reserves the ‘terrorist’ label for non-state actors, rather than a country’s military.

As such, and despite the fact that the EU has historically tried to hold itself apart from Washington-Tehran conflicts, the bloc now appears to have aligned itself — deliberately or otherwise — with US interests.

Amid ever-escalating sanctions, extreme civil unrest, and US military threat, the Iranian authorities appear to be cornered. They will have little option other than to join ‘negotiations’ Trump — which is doubtless what the US dictator wanted all along.

Featured image via the Canary