Last week, the European Union crossed a line it had long avoided, when EU foreign ministers unanimously agreed to legally designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. On the surface, the move against the IRGC—Iran’s powerful elite military force—might look largely symbolic, even inadequate given the regime’s brutal crackdown on recent mass protests in the country, as well as its direct support to Russia’s war against Ukraine. But Europe is quickly recognizing that gray-zone competition must be countered with legal clarity about covert networks that prop up autocracy and enable military aggression.
For years, the working assumption in Brussels was that the risks emanating from Iran’s web of proxies and financial facilitators could be managed through sanctions on individuals, periodic condemnations and the preservation of diplomatic channels. Over time, however, it became obvious that this arrangement allowed banks, lawyers and other intermediaries to do business with the IRGC while claiming ignorance. Designating the IRGC eliminates that loophole, forcing Iran’s sanctions-evading networks to reconfigure at higher cost and lower operational tempo. It’s not just good tactics; combined with active coordination between intelligence and law enforcement, it’s a winning strategy for countering hybrid threats.
The EU move came in response to two compounding pressures: Iran’s violent suppression of protests that erupted in December, during which security forces killed an estimated 6,700 people and arrested 27,000 more. The second factor was Iran’s material support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. Until recently, Spain, France and Italy resisted designation of the IRGC, hoping to preserve diplomatic channels for negotiating the release of European nationals held in Iranian custody and salvaging the multilateral nuclear deal that the U.S. jettisoned in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term.