Ukraine names Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as terrorist organization
Ukraine has designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in his evening address on Feb. 2.
The move brings Kyiv in alignment with the European Union, which labeled the IRGC a terrorist group on Jan. 29, in addition to imposing a new raft of sanctions against Iran.
"(T)he European Union has agreed to designate one of the main organizations of the regime in Iran, the so-called Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as a terrorist organization," Zelensky said in his video address.
"European procedures are currently underway. We in Ukraine have already made this decision and have already designated this organization as terrorist, and for us this issue is closed."
The IRGC was added to Ukraine's formal list of groups designated as terrorist organizations on Jan. 30, according to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) web portal.
The IRGC is a powerful and elite branch of Iran's armed forces, established after the Iranian revolution in 1979. The unit has already been labeled a terrorist group by the U.S. and several other countries.
Ukraine and Europe's designation of the branch as a terrorist group follows the Iranian government's brutal crackdown on the recent anti-regime protests that erupted across the country. Tehran's violent repression is believed to have killed thousands of demonstrators.
"The whole world sees what is happening in Iran, how many people have been killed, and how the Iranian regime has contributed to the spread of war and violence in the region and the world," Zelensky said on Feb. 2.
"Ukraine has not forgotten any of the thousands of Shaheds that attack our cities and villages, our people," he added.
Iran has been Russia's close strategic partner during the war, providing Shahed strike drones that are regularly used in aerial strikes against Ukrainian cities, along with their Russian-produced copies.
The U.S. has also condemned Tehran's crackdown on protests, with tensions between the Trump administration and Iran escalating rapidly in recent weeks. Trump is reportedly once again weighing a strike amid stalled talks on Iran's nuclear program.
