Israeli FM urges Germany to define Iran’s IRGC as terrorist organization

During an official visit to Berlin, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen urged Germany to add Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the European Union’s terrorist organization list.

The IRGC is the ayatollah regime’s elite force. One of the organization’s five branches, the Quds Force, which was led by the late General Qasem Soleimani, is responsible for building Tehran’s vast network of terrorist proxies in the Middle East and beyond.

Addressing a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Cohen urged Germany and the world to restore sanctions against Tehran in response to Iran’s expanding uranium-enrichment activities.

“We can go back to sanctions or have a credible military option,” said Cohen.

The Israeli foreign minister said his German counterpart listened to Israel’s case for adding the IRGC to the EU’s official terrorist-group list.

However, following a meeting in February with EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Baerbock told the media that “as of now, we don’t have legal grounds in the EU to list the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization.”

It is unclear whether Germany and the EU will eventually define the IRGC as a terror-sponsoring organization.

By contrast, the European Parliament has supported the move to blacklist the IRGC and label it as a terrorist organization.

In February, the Israeli foreign minister urged Romania and Bulgaria, two EU member states, to present a “common front” against the Iranian nuclear threat. Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu reportedly voiced support for Jerusalem’s position to include Iran’s IRGC on the EU's list of terrorist organizations.