Large Crowd In Brussels Renews Call On EU To Designate IRGC
A large crowd of Iranian expatriates held a big rally in Brussels to once again urge the EU countries to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.
A large crowd of Iranian expatriates held a big rally in Brussels to once again urge the EU countries to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.
The Belgian capital hosted the European foreign ministers at the Council of Europe on Thursday, a good opportunity for Iranian activists who want European countries to designate the IRGC as a first step, followed by the expulsion of the Islamic Republic’s envoys, towards the fall of the regime.
Several European politicians, including Danial Ilkhanipour and Alireza Akhondi, were among the speakers of the events that were held during the demonstrations.
Ilkhanipour, a German-Iranian member of the Hamburg city parliament, told the crowd that in the past few months, Iranians have shown they can achieve what they want if they unite, referring to several rounds of sanctions by EU and a resolution by the European Parliament asking the EU to list the IRGC as a terrorist entity for its role in the repression of popular protests and the supply of drones to Russia.
Akhondi, a Swedish-Iranian member of the Swedish Parliament, said that “The Islamic Republic has killed people in Europe and kidnapped people such as Iranian-German national Jamshid Sharmahd,” who faces a death sentence in Iran on charge of "corruption on earth". Sharmahd, who is also a US resident, is held by Tehran for allegedly heading a pro-monarchist group accused of a deadly 2008 bombing and planning other attacks in the country. Akhondi claimed that a large number of agents of the Islamic Republic are here in Brussels.
Vahid Beheshti, the British-Iranian activist who is on hunger strike outside the UK Foreign Office for the same cause, also sent a video message to the gathering, telling the European foreign ministers that as Lebanon’s Hezbollah is blacklisted as a terror group, Iran’s Guards should also be designated.
Most of the speakers of the event asked EU members how they can ignore such a large amount of evidence on human rights violations and terrorist acts perpetrated by the IRGC.
Earlier in the day, the block's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tweeted that “Ukraine has been attacked again by Russia with Iranian drones, targeting educational facilities and a missile attack on a residential building in Zaporizhzhia. Just when Putin expressed need for peaceful settlement to President Xi, Russian again commits war crimes.”
In January, Borrell said that the European Union cannot list the IRGC as a terrorist entity until an European court has determined that they are, noting "Ministers adopted a new package of sanctions against Iran, targeting those driving the repression.” “The EU strongly condemns the brutal and disproportionate use of force by the Iranian authorities against peaceful protesters," he said but no action was taken to designate the IRGC.
The IRGC was set up shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Shiite clerical ruling establishment and provide a counterweight to the regular armed forces. It has an estimated 125,000-strong military with army, navy and air units. It also commands the Basij religious militia, a volunteer paramilitary force loyal to the clerical establishment which is often used to crack down on anti-government protests.
There have been numerous Iranian terror acts in Europe, where courts have indicted top officials. In addition, IRGC’s record in organizing attacks elsewhere are well-documented. Critics say that Borrell and many of the European diplomats are focused on re-starting nuclear talks with Iran after the previous long round of negotiations in 2021-2022 ended last September without success.
The current round of antiregime protests engulfed the country in September when 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini was on a trip to capital Tehran where she was beaten to death by the ‘morality police’ for “improper hijab.”
The Israeli premier, scheduled to meet with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman on Friday, is slated to depart on Thursday evening.
According to a statement from Netanyahu’s office, his meetings in London will focus on the need to formulate a “united international front” against Iran in order to stop its nuclear program.
The leaders will also discuss strengthening strategic ties between Israel and the United Kingdom, including increasing security and intelligence cooperation and the war in Ukraine as well as broad developments in the Middle East.
Earlier in the week, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen was in London to press Jerusalem’s position about the Islamic Republic’s threat and bolster bilateral economic ties.
The Israeli diplomat signed an agreement called the 2030 Roadmap for UK-Israeli Bilateral Relations, which according to the British Foreign Office “contains detailed commitments for deepening cooperation across the breadth of the Israel-UK relationship, including on trade, cyber, science and tech, research and development, security, health, etc.”
Netanyahu’s trip to London comes on the heels of his visit last week to Berlin, where he met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and other senior German officials. As he stood with Scholz at the Holocaust memorial Platform 17 in Berlin, Netanyahu appeared to compare Iran with the Nazis.
Seemingly alluding to the Islamic Republic rhetoric which calls for the end of the ‘Zionist regime’, he said: “The calls to destroy the Jewish people have not ended. The main lesson we have learned is that when we are faced with such evil, we must stop the evil plans early to prevent a disaster."
A senior Israeli official, who spoke to Iran International on condition of anonymity, said Netanyahu's recent visits to Europe aim to convey a strong message that Israel would act alone against Iran and would do whatever it deems necessary against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
“Recent trips to some European countries and meetings with the leaders of these countries are both a message for Europe and a direct message for the Iranian government," the source said, noting that Tehran has "received" this message.
Earlier in the month, Netanyahu met with Italian premier Giorgia Meloni when both called for bolstering bilateral ties. His meeting with Meloni came just after Iran and Saudi Arabia announced a resumption of diplomatic ties, a development that Netanyahu was widely criticized at home for failing to prevent.
On Wednesday, a senior Israeli diplomatic official told Axios that the Israeli government sees the recent agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran not as a threat, but as an opportunity for Israel’s efforts to normalize relations with the Saudi kingdom.
The official who is directly involved in the efforts said that the war in Yemen has been a major "irritant" in US-Saudi relations in recent years, hampering efforts for Israel-Saudi normalization steps. ”The more relations between the US and Saudi Arabia improve, the easier it will be to work on promoting normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel,” the official said.
On Wednesday, Israel warned the Biden administration and several European countries that Tehran would be entering dangerous territory that could trigger an Israeli military strike if it enriches uranium above the 60-percent level.
According to an International Atomic Energy Agency report from late February, Iran has amassed 87.5 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium. Experts say if uranium is enriched to 90% weapons grade, it would be a sufficient quantity to produce at least one nuclear bomb.
Netanyahu has time and again threatened military action against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program as it enriches uranium closer to weapons-grade levels.
On March 9, Netanyahu told Iran International that Tehran is “dangerously moving forward” in its nuclear program, claiming that he returned to the government primarily to make sure that Iran cannot become a nuclear “threshold power”.
The PM’s whirlwind of foreign trips is seen by some as a distraction from the civil uprising happening at home as Israelis protest against proposed legal reforms which would make Netanyahu largely unaccountable. It would also give him a clear way out of criminal charges he faces, though he denies all counts.
The exact time and location of his departure is not yet known even to reporters who will be accompanying Netanyahu during the diplomatic visit to London because protesters have vowed to gather at the site and prevent him from boarding the plane.
The declaration was made once again by the foreign ministers of the six member states of the GCC, who claim the Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa have been unlawfully occupied by the regime.
The Ministerial Council , which hosted high profile attendees including the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, stressed support for the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates over the three islands as an indivisible part of the territory of the United Arab Emirates.
In the meeting Wednesday, they further added that any practices or actions carried out by Iran on the three islands are “null, void and have no effect on the right of the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates over its three islands”.
The Ministerial Council also called on Iran to respond to the efforts of the United Arab Emirates to resolve the issue through direct negotiations or resorting to the International Court of Justice.
The three islands have been in dispute since the British withdrew their armed forces in 1971 and Mohammad Reza Shah sent the Iranian navy to secure all three.
Iranian forces remain on the islands, with only Abu Musa having a civilian population which is less than two thousand.
The Council welcomed the agreement reached between Saudi Arabia and Iran in Beijing at the initiative of the Chinese President Xi Jinping, which it also hopes can pave the way for talks over Iran’s nuclear enrichment, a shared concern for all GCC states.
“[We] hope this agreement would constitute a positive step for resolving differences and ending all regional conflicts through dialogue and diplomatic means and establishing relations between countries on the basis of understanding, mutual respect, and good neighborliness,” read the statement.
After seven years of soured political relations, Iran and Sadi Arabia signed a deal earlier this month brokered by China to resume times and open embassies in the respective capitals.
However, the continued activity of Iran’s proxy militia, the Houthi rebels, is proving a contentious issue as they show no signs of abating action in Yemen.
The Council reiterated its calls on the Houthis to negotiate under the supervision of the UN to reach a political solution.
The Ministerial Council further condemned Iran's continued “foreign interference in the internal affairs of Yemen, sending military experts and weapons to the Houthi terrorist militia in clear violation of Security Council Resolutions”.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani slammed the comments about the occupied islands and stressed Thursday that they are an integral and eternal part of the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.