𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Keir Starmer is under growing pressure to label the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps terrorists after European diplomats put them on a par with ISIS and Al Qaeda.

EU Foreign Ministers proscribed the military group after its troops slaughtered thousands of protesters marching against the regime.

The designation means IRGC members face travel bans, asset freezes and prosecution.

But Britain has repeatedly refused amid fears the Iranian regime would respond by closing the Embassy in Tehran.

The United States proscribed the IRGC’s military wing as terrorists in 2019, with Canada and Australia following suit in 2024 and 2025.

Tory MP Bob Blackman said: “I welcome the long overdue by the European Union to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.

“But still, the UK Government doesn’t proscribe them. It is quite clear that the NCRI and the people bravely fighting in Iran, resisting the IRGC, have the right to not only campaign against them but also use weapons to defend themselves.

“The IRGC is responsible for many acts of terrorism across the World, gross violations of human rights and the destruction of Iran’s infrastructure and economy.

“So we call on the UK Government to immediately proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. This is the only way to stand in total solidarity with the Iranian people who demand a democratic republic.”

EU diplomats finally agreed to the move on Thursday, after a U-turn by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s most senior diplomat, said: “We are putting new sanctions on the list, and I also expect that we agree on listing the [IRGC] on the terrorist list. If you act as a terrorist, you should also be treated as a terrorist.”

Jean-Noël Barrot, the French foreign minister, announcing his country’s about-turn, said: “The unbearable repression of the peaceful uprising of the Iranian people cannot go unanswered.

“The extraordinary courage they have shown in the face of the blind violence unleashed upon them cannot be in vain. Together with our European partners, we will adopt sanctions … against those responsible for these abuses.”

Asked whether Britain should follow suit, Margus Tsahkna, Estonia’s foreign minister, said: “Yes… if other allies are doing the same, it will have more of an impact.

“We definitely witness what is really happening in Iran, and this Islamic Revolutionary Guard is actually the tool which is keeping the regime in power, and killing tens of thousands of people.”

The IRGC has also been accused of attempting assassinations on British soil, funding, arming and training terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah and supporting the Houthis’ Red Sea piracy campaign.

MI5 Director General Sir Ken McCallum said in October that British spies had foiled 20 potential assassination plots.

Shahin Gobadi, of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an exiled opposition group, told The Telegraph. “Now is time for the UK to immediately proscribe the IRGC in its entirety as a terrorist organisation. Nothing can justify any more delay.”

A Government spokeswoman said: “We utterly condemn the terrible violence being used by the Iranian regime against those exercising their right to peaceful protest.

“The Government has already sanctioned the IRGC in its entirety, as well as more than 550 Iranian individuals and entities, and set out a robust package of measures to tackle threats from the Iranian regime.”