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By Staff Writer
Pressure is mounting on European Union member states to list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.
Several capitals, including Germany, are publicly pushing for a decision that would place the Guards on the EU’s terror list alongside groups such as Daesh and al-Qaeda. But legal and political constraints remain, and key states such as Italy, France, Spain and Luxembourg have not yet backed the move amid reports that at least 16,500 protesters have been killed and about 330,000 injured during Iran’s unrest, according to a report compiled by doctors inside the country.
European concern has intensified as the Islamic Republic tightens its grip on information internally, threatening journalists and enforcing a nationwide internet blackout that has cut millions of people off from global communications.
Activists are urging the United States to approve direct-to-cell satellite services to bypass government restrictions, warning that Iran’s information blackout is being used as a political weapon.
ABC News reported: “Iranian activists are lobbying the Trump administration to authorise direct-to-cell satellite services over Iran, arguing that political will in Washington is now the key to piercing the country’s near-total internet blackout.”
Iran’s nationwide internet shutdown has now passed 280 hours, with traffic data pointing to an emerging strategy of selective access, according to the internet monitoring group NetBlocks.
“Meanwhile, traffic on select platforms points to an emergent strategy of whitelisting,” NetBlocks wrote on X.
The blackout has left much of the country’s population of more than 90 million cut off from global communications, with families unable to check in on loved ones and news outlets struggling to report from inside the country.
Selective access is not new. In recent months, officials and security-linked bodies have been widely reported to use so-called “white SIM cards”, special mobile lines exempt from state filtering that allow unrestricted access to platforms blocked for most users, including Instagram, Telegram and WhatsApp.
Last year, the rollout of a location feature on X triggered public anger after it appeared to show some officials and pro-government figures connecting from inside Iran without filters, prompting accusations of unequal access.
At the same time, journalists inside the country say they are being threatened into silence. Iran’s Intelligence Ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have warned reporters against covering the protests, threatening detention and heavy sentences.
Several said they had been told: “Do not do something you will regret; your family will mourn.”
United Nations human rights monitors have urged an independent investigation into possible crimes against humanity. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Mai Sato, said the United Nations Human Rights Council should examine the latest protest crackdown.
“They could be mandated to investigate this [latest] protest and the human rights impact in order to collect evidence and hold people accountable,” she said. “Crimes against humanity [are] defined as widespread, systematic human rights violations against civilians, and that includes murder, torture, arbitrary detention. There also needs to be intent. There [have] been so many casualties, and I have seen so many videos of security forces opening fire to unarmed civilians.”
The council has confirmed it will hold an emergency session on Iran on Friday, with documents seen by Reuters underlining “credible reports of alarming violence, crackdowns on protesters and violations of international human rights law across the country”.
In Brussels, debate over whether to add the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the EU’s terrorist list has returned to the forefront. A designation would subject the group to travel bans, asset freezes and a prohibition on making funds or economic resources available to those listed under European Council rules.
Diplomats say Germany, Sweden, Belgium and several Baltic states are among those pushing to revive discussions following violence against protesters. The Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister, David van Weel, was among the first to publicly urge the European Union on X to “list the IRGC as a terrorist organisation”. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has also called for swift action, saying violence and assassinations “is not something we will tolerate”.
Italy, France, Spain and Luxembourg however have not publicly backed a formal designation, reflecting legal and political concerns about placing an official state military force on the EU’s terrorist list. Final approval requires unanimity among all 27 member states, meaning a single holdout can block a decision.
Human rights organisations fear that more than 2,000 people may have been killed in recent unrest. The United States, Canada and Australia have already designated the Guards as a terrorist organisation.
Former White House national security official Richard Goldberg said United States President Donald Trump is weighing broader options as protests and violence escalate. He told Fox News that President Trump is responding to mass demonstrations in Iran, killings in the streets and executions “happening right now in secret to try to avoid triggering the president’s red line again”, and that the American leader is exploring options targeting command, control and communications assets as well as pressure points such as oil flows and Iran’s missile programme.