French Parliament Calls for Designating Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Its Members on Terrorist Organizations List

The French Parliament, by approving a resolution, called for the placement of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its members on the list of terrorist organizations.

The French National Assembly passed a resolution in response to serious and widespread human rights violations by the Islamic Republic authorities, with the majority vote of representatives. Through this resolution, the French government and the European Union were asked to place the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its agents, including the Basij and the Quds Force, on the list of terrorist organizations.

Parliament members in this resolution referred to the role of the Revolutionary Guards and Basij in suppressing nationwide protests in Iran that began after Mahsa Amini’s death in summer 1401 (2022). The resolution states: “These forces systematically use violence to suppress opponents and critics and have perpetrated widespread violations of the rights of Iranian citizens.”

Parliament members in this resolution, while referring to discrimination against women and girls in Iran, asked the French government and the European Union to impose sanctions against Iranian leaders who have played a role in widespread violations of women’s and girls’ rights. In addition to this resolution, the European Parliament also issued a resolution in December 1401 (2022) calling for the placement of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations due to suppression of people in Iran and execution of protesters, which was approved.

The passage of these resolutions comes as none of them have been implemented so far, and the implementation of these requests requires the agreement of European Union member states. In this regard, some European officials have warned that designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the terrorist organizations list could potentially harm efforts to revive the nuclear agreement with Iran and increase diplomatic tensions between Tehran and Brussels.

The passage of the aforementioned resolution indicates that international pressure on the Islamic Republic has increased due to human rights violations and suppression of protesters. Moreover, Western countries have expressed concern about the repressive behavior of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s government and are attempting to hold the Iranian government accountable.