Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday warned the European Union against making a “mistake” by listing it as a terror group, after the bloc’s parliament called for the measure.
“If the Europeans make a mistake, they must accept the consequences,” IRGC chief Major General Hossein Salami said, according to the Guards’ Sepah News website.
In his first remarks on the EU move, he said: “Europe has not learned lessons from its past mistakes and thinks that it can undermine the magnificent IRGC, which is empowered by faith, trust, strength and determination.”
Salami then affirmed that the Guards “are never worried about such threats or even acting on them, because as much as our enemies give us a chance to act, we act stronger.”
Salami’s comments came during a meeting with the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.
Qalibaf said Iran’s enemies “do not have a precise understanding of our nation and the IRGC, and especially they do not have any knowledge and analysis regarding the relationship between the (Iranian) nation and the IRGC.”
The Iranian Speaker added that the parliament is ready to decisively respond to any move taken by the EU against the IRGC.
Last Thursday, members of the European Parliament voted to add the IRGC, including its Basij paramilitary force, and its foreign arm, the Quds Force, on the 27-nation bloc’s terror list.
The text backed by EU Parliament member states called for banning the IRGC members or affiliated individuals from any economic and financial activities on European soil.
The EU vote came at a time of growing tension between Tehran and Brussels in light of Iran’s terrorist activity, the repression of protesters and its supplying of drones to Russia.
The United States has already placed both the IRGC and its foreign arm, the Quds Force, on its list of “foreign terrorist organizations.”
The EU Council is the only body entitled of adding the IRGC on the terror list and of imposing sanctions.
Last week, members of the European Parliament supported the proposed text of the decision that calls for adding the IRGC on the terror list, while others were more cautious.
Their decision is non-binding but comes with EU foreign ministers already due to discuss tightening sanctions on Iran next week.
At an already-scheduled meeting in Brussels next Monday, EU foreign ministers will tackle adopting the fourth package of sanctions on Tehran over its repression of demonstrators.
The EU has already imposed asset freezes and visa bans on more than 60 Iranian officials and entities over the crackdown on protestors, including targeting Tehran’s morality police, Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders, and state media.
But the 27-nation EU has so far stopped short of blacklisting the Revolutionary Guard itself as a terror group despite calls from Germany and other member states to take the step.
The IRGC, formed shortly after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, answer to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and boast their own ground, naval and air forces.
Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Guard announced Saturday seizing large quantities of weapons in the country's southwestern border region.
The Mehr news agency quoted the commander of the Karbala regional headquarters of the Ground Force of the Guard, Brigadier General Ahmed Khadim Sayyid al-Shuhada, as saying that the weapons were discovered in very difficult weather at the southwestern Iranian border.
The military commander did not reveal the types of arms that were seized.
