AJC welcomes overdue EU designation of IRGC as terror organization

American Jewish Committee (AJC), the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people, welcomes today’s (29 January) decisive political decision by EU foreign ministers at the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) of the European Union to designate the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terror organization.

AJC tirelessly advocated for this designation, a crucial step toward curbing the malign activity of the Iranian regime. “This designation is not symbolic. It is a decisive, long overdue political act that sends a clear, unmistakable message that Europe, now united with governments around the world, will not tolerate terror,” said AJC CEO Ted Deutch.

“The IRGC’s brutal tactics have been on full display. It is not a conventional domestic security force. Rather, it is the long arm of a regime that thrives on terror, repression, and destabilization, exporting its violence far beyond Iran’s borders and responsible for unthinkable horrors inflicted on the Iranian people, the Jewish people, and communities around the world. We urge all EU member states to immediately implement this designation and all aligned nations, in Europe and beyond, to take similar action.”

AJC has long urged European leaders to make this designation, including through direct advocacy across the continent last week, following weeks of the Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on the Iranian people. In conversations with EU member country officials, AJC emphasized the IRGC’s funding and supplying of arms to proxies including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, its planning of attacks on European soil and against Jewish communities around the world, and the deepening relationship between Tehran and Moscow, with the regime providing drones and other military support used by Russia in its war against Ukraine.

“The IRGC’s terror activities extend well beyond the Middle East, harming European and global security alike,” said AJC Vice President, Europe, Anne-Sophie Sebban-Bécache.

“Of particular concern is the IRGC’s financial networks and planning of attacks on European soil against vulnerable communities. German courts have ruled on its responsibility for an attempted terrorist attack against a synagogue and British authorities have foiled assassination and kidnapping plots targeting dissidents. These are not isolated incidents. They reflect a deliberate strategy to intimidate and destabilize our societies. The Iranian people’s fight is our fight too. Europe’s solidarity—not only in words, but through concrete measures like this that deter state terror—is vital in our joint pursuit of justice, accountability, and a more peaceful future for all.”

In May 2025, AJC’s Transatlantic Friends of Israel issued a joint statement signed by lawmakers from the United States and Europe, calling for a transatlantic strategy to deter the Iranian regime’s aggression and destabilizing behavior, including urging the EU to designate the IRGC and the entirety of Hezbollah as terrorist entities. The United States, Canada, Australia, and several other nations have all previously adopted measures designating the IRGC or its components.

This month, Argentine President Javier Milei also designated the IRGC’s Quds Force—the branch responsible for Iran’s external operations—as a terrorist organization, linking this decision to the still unresolved trauma of the Buenos Aires attacks in the 1990s, further strengthening the international front against the Iranian regime’s terrorism. AJC is the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people. With headquarters in New York, 25 regional offices across the United States, 15 overseas posts, as well as partnerships with 38 Jewish community organizations worldwide, AJC’s mission is to enhance the well-being of the Jewish people and Israel and to advance human rights and democratic values in the United States and around the world.

For more information, please visit www.ajc.org.

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