The European Union has designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “terrorist organisation”, following in the footsteps of Australia, Canada and the United States.

The chair of the European Parliament’s delegation for Iran relations, Hannah Neumann, said the move was “not merely symbolic [but] carries very concrete legal consequences: assets are frozen, and any financial or material support becomes a criminal offence.”

A number of other entities and individuals have also been sanctioned by the EU, including notorious Revolutionary Court judge Iman Afshari, who has presided over many cases involving Christians in recent years, often handing out extremely harsh sentences.

The IRGC has been increasingly involved in arrests of Christians in recent years, and is infamous for its brutality, such as in the raid on a gathering of Christians in Gatab, Mazandaran Province, last year, when IRGC agents tore cross necklaces off Christians, injuring them.

Last month, a Christian convert who was arrested and detained by IRGC agents testified: “The way the IRGC act is very different from the Ministry of Intelligence. IRGC agents go to homes without a legal warrant and arrest people. They say obscene and offensive things and insult and humiliate them.” 

The stated purpose of the IRGC is to defend the Islamic Republic, so the increasing role of the IRGC in arrests of Christians also clearly indicates that the regime perceives them as a threat. This is also clear from official statements by the authorities, in which house-churches have been labelled as enemy groups.

There are calls for the UK to follow suit in listing the IRGC, as British-Iranian bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani demanded in the House of Lords three years ago.

“Religious minorities and peaceful protesters report violent treatment during arrest and detention, as well as the interference of the IRGC’s intelligence branch in court proceedings to ensure harsher sentences against those who are accused,” the bishop said at the time, adding that she “absolutely agree[d]” with those Lords calling for the IRGC to be proscribed.