EU terror designation would be ‘mistake’: Iran’s IRGC

ISTANBUL (AA) – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Saturday warned Europe against making a “mistake” by listing the elite force as a terrorist group.

“We are never worried about such threats or even acting on them, because as much as our enemies give us a chance to act, we act stronger,” IRGC chief Major General Hossein Salami said in statements cited by the Mehr news agency.

“We advise the Europeans not to repeat their mistakes," he added.

Salami explained, "Without the efforts of the IRGC, the wave of terrorism created by the Americans would have spread to Europe, and would have destroyed the security it enjoys today."

On Wednesday, the European Parliament voted to include the IRGC on the EU's "terror list", in response to the "brutal repression" of protests and “its supplying of drones to Russia.”

The top Iranian commander said Europeans would suffer the consequences if they designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization.

“Europe has not learned lessons from its past mistakes and thinks it can undermine the IRGC… with such statements,” he added.

Iran has been rocked by mass protests since September following the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody.

Thousands of people have been detained, according to human rights groups, while Iranian authorities said 200 people have died in the unrest.

Last month, the EU imposed sanctions on 24 Iranian officials and five organizations in response to the Iranian crackdown on the protests.

* Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report