The European Union has formally designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from Tehran and heightened diplomatic tensions.

According to British media reports, the EU added the IRGC, also known as the Revolutionary Guards, to its list of terrorist entities following a decision by EU foreign ministers.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the designation was necessary to respond to repression and violence.

In a post on social media, she said, “Repression cannot go unanswered. EU Foreign Ministers just took the decisive step of designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation. Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise.”

Kallas said the decision would place the IRGC on par with groups such as al-Qaeda and Daesh.

She added that despite the designation, the EU still expected diplomatic channels with Iran to remain open.

Iranian Foreign Minister Syed Abbas Araghchi strongly condemned the move, calling it another major strategic error by Europe.

In a statement posted on social media, he accused European countries of worsening regional instability instead of helping prevent a wider conflict.

“Several countries are presently attempting to avert the eruption of all-out war in our region. None of them are European. Europe is instead busy fanning the flames,” Araghchi said.

He said that after pursuing the ‘snapback’ mechanism at the behest of the United States, Europe was now making another “major strategic mistake” by designating Iran’s national military as a terrorist organisation.

Araghchi described Europe’s stance as “blatant hypocrisy”, accusing it of taking no action over what he termed Israel’s genocide in Gaza while “rushing to ‘defend human rights’ in Iran”.

He said the decision was a public relations move aimed at masking what he called Europe’s declining global influence.

The Iranian foreign minister also warned that Europe itself would be severely affected by any full-scale war in the region, including through surging energy prices, calling the EU’s current posture damaging to its own interests.