EU set to sanction senior IRGC members over crackdown

The European Union is set to target senior members of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in a first volley of sanctions over the recent deadly crackdown on mass protests, diplomats said Tuesday.

The 27-nation bloc is expected to announce asset freezes and visa bans on 21 individuals and entities — including high-ranking IRGC members — when EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels on Thursday, diplomats said.

Ambassadors from EU member states are due to greenlight the decision on Wednesday, ahead of its formal adoption.

They are also expected to agree to sanction 10 more individuals and entities over Iranian drone and missile supplies to Russia for use in Ukraine.

The new sanctions come as calls grow for the EU to formally list the IRGC as a “terrorist organization,” with Italy throwing its weight behind the push.

The bloc has already sanctioned several hundred Iranian officials and entities — including the IRGC as a whole and senior commanders — over crackdowns on previous protest movements and over Tehran’s support for Russia’s war on Ukraine.

A US-based rights group said Tuesday it had confirmed the deaths of over 6,000 people in protests in Iran suppressed by security forces, adding it was investigating over 17,000 more potential deaths and warning a wave of arrests was ongoing.

The protests started in late December sparked by economic grievances but turned into a mass movement against the Islamic Republic, with huge street rallies on January 8 and 9 that were the biggest in recent years.

Iranian authorities last week said 3,117 people were killed, the majority members of the security forces and innocent bystanders who authorities claim were killed by “rioters.”