Iran has warned that the European Union will “shoot itself in the foot” if it designates the Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity, a day after the European Parliament called on the EU and its member states to do so.
“We have repeatedly said the Revolutionary Guards are a formal and sovereign organisation whose role is central for guaranteeing Iran’s security,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said during a phone call to the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell.
“Steps taken by the European Parliament to list the organisation as terrorist are in a way a shot in the foot of Europe itself.”
On Wednesday, the European Parliament called for the EU to list the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation, blaming it for the repression of domestic protesters and the supply of drones to Russia’s military for use in Ukraine.
Iran’s General Staff of the Armed Forces, which coordinates activities between Iran’s conventional army and the Revolutionary Guards, also warned the EU on Thursday not to list Guards as a terrorist organisation, Iran’s official news agency IRNA said.
“The recent action of the European Parliament, besides having no precedent in international rules and regulations, will affect global as well as regional security and peace, and the European Parliament should be aware of such consequences,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces’ statement read.
Read the article in The Canberra Times (AAP).