European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell gives a statement at the EU headquarters EEAS building in Brussels on Aug18, 2022. (JOHN THYS / AFP)
BRUSSELS / TEHERAN – The European Union cannot list Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist entity until an EU court has determined that they are, the European Union's foreign policy chief said on Monday.
EU foreign ministers are however set to add 37 names to the bloc's list of people and entities subject to sanctions over human rights violations in Iran, two European diplomats told Reuters last week. The European Parliament has called on the EU to list the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist entity.
"It is something that cannot be decided without a court, a court decision first. You cannot say I consider you a terrorist because I don't like you," Josep Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, told reporters as he arrived for a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
On Monday, EU ministers agreed on a new package of sanctions against Iran, the Swedish EU presidency said
He said the court of an EU member had to issue a concrete legal condemnation before the EU itself could act.
Arriving at the same meeting, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the EU must talk about putting the IRGC on the sanctions list.
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Relations between EU member states and Tehran have deteriorated as efforts to revive nuclear talks have stalled.
On Monday, EU ministers agreed on a new package of sanctions against Iran, the Swedish EU presidency said.
"Ministers adopted a new package of sanctions against Iran, targeting those driving the repression. The EU strongly condemns the brutal and disproportionate use of force by the Iranian authorities against peaceful protesters," the presidency said in a tweet, without giving further detail.
Sources told Reuters last week that EU foreign ministers would add 37 individual entries to the EU's sanctions against Iran at their meeting on Monday.
On Sunday, Iran's foreign minister said that any retaliatory measure, including a pullout of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, by Iran will be possible if Europe does not change its anti-Teheran positions.
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Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remark in an interview with the official parliamentary news agency ICANA, in response to a question whether Iran's withdrawal from the NPT and expulsion of the inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA would be among Teheran's retaliatory measures if the EU blacklists the IRGC as a "terrorist organization."
The European Parliament on Thursday approved a resolution calling on the EU to designate the IRGC as a "terrorist group".
Describing the European Parliament's move as merely a "show," Amir-Abdollahian said according to remarks by his Swedish counterpart Tobias Billstrom, whose country holds EU's rotating presidency, the Westerners do not seek to implement the resolution.
He noted that Borrell also said in a Thursday phone call that Europe does not seek to implement the resolution, which is merely a reflection of the emotions of part of the European Parliament's members.
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Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf on Sunday vowed that the legislative body will brand European countries' armies that are present in the Middle East region as "terror groups and organizations" should Europe blacklist the IRGC, according to semi-official Tasnim news agency.