Britain is actively considering proscribing Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) as a terrorist organization but has not reached a final decision on the matter, foreign office minister Leo Docherty told parliament on Thursday.
“It would be wrong of me to speculate … about the outcome of the government’s current consideration of this issue, which is active,” Docherty said during a debate on the situation in Iran, during which some lawmakers had called for proscription.
“But I can say that I think the calls right across the house, and the unity with which these calls are being made on all sides will be noted by the government and this is something that we regard as extremely serious,” Reuters quoted him as saying.
Proscribing Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group would mean that it would become a criminal offence in Britain to belong to the group, attend its meetings, and carry its logo in public.
The IRGC is already subject to British sanctions.
The announcement to blacklist the group is expected to be made within weeks.
On Tuesday, France's foreign ministry said it had not ruled out the idea that the European Union designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization, a day after Germany said the move would be politically important and make sense.
Ties between European capitals and Tehran have deteriorated in recent months as efforts to revive nuclear talks have stalled.
With the EU discussing a fourth round of sanctions over the crackdown of Iran on protesters and its supply of weapons to Russia, some member states have called for the bloc to classify the IRGC as a terrorist organization.
When asked whether Paris supported designating the IRGC, foreign ministry spokesperson Anne-Claire Legendre told reporters in a daily briefing Tuesday that “given the continuation of this repression, France is working with its European partners on new sanctions’ measures, without excluding any.”
Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Monday said that a new round of sanctions would not be enough.
“Listing the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization is politically important and makes sense,” she said on Twitter, adding that legal hurdles still needed to cleared before it could be done.
