Iran’s Revolutionary Guard paramilitary troops march during a military parade. Great Britain now apparently wants to have them classified as a terrorist group.Image: AP / Vahid Salemi
politics
The Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) are Iran’s elite force. Founded by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini after the “Islamic Revolution” in 1979, the unit is intended to prevent a putsch and protect the state ideology.
Hundreds of thousands of auxiliaries are under the IRGC’s command, including the notorious Basij militias who have recently been involved in the brutal crackdown on protests. The commander-in-chief is Iran’s head of state, Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all strategic matters.
Ali Khamenei, supreme leader and spiritual leader of Iran.Image: ZUMA Press Wire / Iranian Supreme Leader’s Office
Sanctions against senior Revolutionary Guard officers
In view of the numerous human rights violations since the demonstrations broke out in mid-September, the EU has imposed sanctions on many high-ranking officers of the Revolutionary Guards. But for some politicians and activists this does not go far enough: Again and again they demand that the IRGC be classified as a terrorist organization.
The British government now wants to do just that and put the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on the terrorist list. The reason for this is the arrest of seven people with connections to Great Britain. According to the “daily mirror“The detainees are probably British-Iranian dual citizens.
A British newspaper article dated “telegraphAccording to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, ten kidnappings or killings of people planned in the UK last year. Reason enough to officially declare them a terrorist group.
Iranians have been demonstrating against the authoritarian regime since mid-September 2022.Image: AP / Uncredited
“May the EU follow” – activist Düzen Tekkal welcomes British decision
Politicians and activists are celebrating this British decision online. So did the journalist Düzen Tekkal, who supported the demonstrators from the start Iran actively uses. above Twitter she informed that this was an important step by the British government. “May the EU follow!” she writes.
The FDP politician and chair of the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid, Renata Alt, is also calling on the federal government to take action. She wrote on Twitter: “Germany must stand up for human rights more clearly and quickly. The Revolutionary Guard belongs immediately on the terror list.”
Revolutionary Guards are considered to be influential Revolutionary Guards
Established to protect the Islamic Republic, the Revolutionary Guards are far more powerful today than they were 40 years ago. Because the elite unit is involved in suppressing the current protests, many Iranians are increasingly critical of the guards.
In the past decades, the troops have not only been upgraded militarily, it has also increased its social and economic influence. Today, supporters of the IRGC are considered an economic powerhouse, with holdings in hotel chains, mobile phone companies and airlines, among others. At the same time, they control parts of those hit by harsh international sanctions Business.
(With material from the dpa)
The Iranian regime has already executed two people. The demonstrators Majid-Resa R. and Mohsen S. Died because of the system-critical protests that have shaken the country since the death of the young Kurd Jina Masha Amini. Died because those in power wanted it that way. Many other demonstrators and system critics are on execution lists.