PARIS: France has announced that it will support the European Union's potential designation of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, marking a notable reversal of its previous reluctance on the issue, reported Al Jazeera.
The announcement from Paris comes amid growing international condemnation of Tehran's crackdown on widespread protests and signals a tightening of European diplomatic pressure on the Iranian leadership.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that France would join its European partners in backing the IRGC's inclusion on the EU's list of terrorist entities. "France will support the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the European list of terrorist organizations," he wrote, adding that the regime must "immediately release prisoners, put an end to executions, lift the digital blockade, and allow the United Nations Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission to investigate the crimes committed in Iran."
Barrot's comments underscore the EU's broader response to what he described as the "unbearable repression" of Iranian citizens who have taken to the streets in recent weeks. He said European foreign ministers would adopt sanctions "against those responsible for the unbearable repression of the Iranian people's uprising" at a meeting in Brussels, targeting individuals with travel bans and asset freezes. (ANI)
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