Lithuania’s parliament passed a resolution designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation.
“We were the first among EU parliaments to declare this (…). We recognise the IRGC as a terrorist organization,” MP Emanuelis Zingeris, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, told a press conference.
“Our Interior Ministry must monitor whether members of this terrorist organisation are crossing our borders,” he added.
In its resolution the Lithuanian parliament, Seimas, declared that the IRGC is a terrorist organisation and that its activities pose a threat to international security and stability.
It calls on the EU to follow the lead of the United States and Canada and include the IRGC on the bloc’s list of terrorist organisations.
The IRGC is a paramilitary force established after the 1979 revolution, functioning independently of Iran’s regular armed forces and directly subordinate to the supreme leader. The IRGC controls Iran’s ballistic missile program and wields significant economic influence in the country.
“The Seimas […] calls on the EU, together with its partner countries, to adopt new sanctions packages against Iran, targeting individuals and companies involved in the development and transfer of Iran’s ballistic missile and drone programs to Russia and terrorist organisations, as well as imposing restrictive measures on Iran’s aviation sector,” the resolution reads.
“For more than 40 years now, the current government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which came to power undemocratically during the 1979 revolution, has systematically carried out repression, pursued discriminatory policies against women, violated the rights of its citizens, as well as human rights, and cracked down on protesters,” it reads.
The resolution was unanimously supported by 60 MPs.
