On Monday, April 29, the Iranian regime’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanani, in a weekly press briefing, claimed that the Iranian regime was “anti-terrorist” by referring to the European Parliament discussing the terrorist designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
Kanani called the IRGC “the world’s largest counter-terrorism force” and claimed that “if it had not been for the IRGC’s counter-terrorism role, members of the European Parliament would have been exposed to the threat of takfiri and multinational terrorists behind the doors of parliament.”
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman also called the IRGC “the official military force of Iran.” He advised MEPs to “think about the IRGC and think about every decision.”
On April 25, MEPs called for the IRGC to be listed as a terrorist organization.
In his remarks, Kanani also emphasized the regime’s cooperation with Russia in countering terrorism, saying: “Any action by Iran in fighting terrorism is on the side of friends, including Russia. “Terrorism is a common threat to all countries of the world.”
Despite the agreement to increase sanctions, there is still no agreement on putting the IRGC on the terrorist list.
During the Iranian attack on Israel and the sale of drones to Russia, the issue of declaring the IRGC terrorist has become more and more prominent in European political circles. The Iranian regime’s financial, material and equipment support for Hamas and proxies including the Houthis in Yemen has also created a topic for the proposal in recent months.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday, April 30, that Britain should not add the IRGC to the list of terrorist groups because it would end diplomatic relations with Iran.
The British Foreign Secretary has also argued that in times of crisis, particularly in relation to the war in Gaza, it is important that he be able to pick up the phone and speak to Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian.
The Foreign Secretary noted that cutting diplomatic ties with Iran was not in Britain’s interest because it would not strengthen its approach and in many ways would even undermine it.
Referring to a relatively short list of countries like the United States, Canada and Bahrain that cut diplomatic ties with Iran, Cameron said that sometimes I see countries that don’t have diplomatic relations with Iran, send messages to Iranians. And sometimes Iranians ask me and say, what do you think and what do they mean? I want to have this direct conversation.
