Iran reacts angrily as European Union designates IRGC as terrorist group; summons European ambassadors

Tehran: Diplomatic tensions between Iran and the European Union continue to escalate. Iran has summoned all EU ambassadors to protest the EU's decision to designate its paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization. This move comes at a time when Iran faces the threat of possible military action from the United States due to alleged violent crackdowns on recent peaceful protests and mass executions.

What has the US military done?

The US military has deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and several missile destroyers to West Asia. However, it remains unclear whether President Donald Trump will decide to use military force, as regional countries engage in diplomatic efforts to prevent another war in West Asia.

What has the European Union done?

In fact, the European Union agreed last week to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization due to its role in the violent crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran, which resulted in thousands of deaths and thousands of detentions. Several other countries, including the United States and Canada, have already designated the IRGC a terrorist organization. While this move is largely symbolic, it has increased economic pressure on Iran, especially given the significant role the IRGC plays in the country's economy.

What has Iran done?

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told reporters that the process of summoning ambassadors began on Sunday and continued until Monday. Baghaei said that several steps have been reviewed, various options are being prepared, and they have been sent to the relevant decision-making bodies. "We believe that Iran will make a retaliatory decision in the coming days in response to this illegal, unjustified, and extremely wrong step by the EU."

Meanwhile, Baghaei also stated that the IRGC's military exercises in the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Persian Gulf, are continuing as scheduled. Approximately one-fifth of the world's oil trade passes through this strait. When asked whether Iran could face war, he said, "Don't worry at all." However, he declined to say whether Trump had given Iran a deadline to respond to US demands.

Earlier on Sunday, the Speaker of Iran's Parliament, citing a 2019 law, said that the Islamic Republic now considers all armies of the European Union to be terrorist organizations.

The Revolutionary Guard was established after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the government overseen by Shia clerics and was later incorporated into the constitution. It operates parallel to the country's regular army and grew in strength and influence during the long and devastating war with Iraq in the 1980s. It faced the prospect of disbanding after the war, but Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei allowed it to expand into the private sector, further strengthening it.