FRESH AIR

IRGC listing trend snowballing domestically and internationally

January 16, 2023 | Oved Lobel

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with leaders of the IRGC (Image: Twitter)
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with leaders of the IRGC (Image: Twitter)

The global trend among Western democracies to move to list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation has been gaining a great deal of momentum in recent weeks, even as increasing numbers of Australian political leaders and community groups have been calling on Canberra to also proscribe the IRGC:

  • On January 10, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reiterated the importance of Germany and the European Union listing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation and said Germany was actively working to clear legal hurdles to get to a designation, something she first mooted in October. France has said it is keeping the door open to such a possibility, as well. The EU is also planning a new tranche of sanctions against Iran specifically targeting the IRGC.
  • Outside of official spokespeople and ministries, more than 100 members of the European Parliament signed a letter to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell calling on the European Union to list the IRGC.
  • In the UK, members of the House of Commons voted unanimously for a non-binding motion urging the Government to list the IRGC. This all comes within a few weeks after it was first reported that the UK is on the cusp of listing the IRGC.
  • In Canada, meanwhile, which already lists the IRGC’s expeditionary Qods Force, there has been a long-standing debate about listing the IRGC in its entirety. While this would give Canada additional tools to punish the IRGC, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland is not waiting on legal technicalities, declaring in October that “The IRGC leadership are terrorists, the IRGC is a terrorist organisation.” Additionally, Canada has imposed sweeping and progressively expanding sanctions on the group.

Inside Australia, there is a wide political and communal consensus on the need to list the IRGC under Australia’s Criminal Code, as evidenced in numerous submissions, including AIJAC’s, to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee’s inquiry into the human rights implications of recent violence in Iran.

  • Australian Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John recently stated:

    The Iranian diaspora community has been calling for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to be listed as a terrorist organisation, and the Australian Government must start listening. This would send a strong signal that Australia will not stay silent in the face of human rights abuses and will act to punish perpetrators who are accountable for these heinous crimes.

  • Australian Greens Senator Barbara Pocock has also called on the Government “to expand sanctions against the Iranian regime and to respond to calls from the Iranian people, people around the world, to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.”

 

  • Liberal Senator Claire Chandler, in a January 3 Facebook post, called on the Government to “follow the lead of our allies” and list the IRGC, a position reiterated to the Australian ten days later:

    Other nations have been forthright in acknowledging this threat and open with the public about IRGC actions targeting their citizens. Australia’s government has not, and that should change. Officials in the UK and EU are moving towards proscribing the IRGC as a terrorist organisation and the Australian gov­ernment should be taking the same path.

  • The Teal independents sent a joint letter to Foreign Minister Penny Wong in early October 2022 calling for the IRGC to be listed, as well, a position since repeated.

Indeed, it seems the only major political grouping to have not even mentioned the IRGC at all, much less the idea of listing it in its entirety under the Criminal Code, is the Government itself.

Australia imposed exactly one round of symbolic sanctions on Iran, on December 10, months after allies had been imposing tranche after tranche and now continue to do so. The announcement of that limited sanctions package did not mention the IRGC as a group, nor does any Government official ever seem to have discussed the group in any context whatsoever.

This is a puzzling state of affairs given the fact that nearly all of Australia’s Western allies have now either listed the group or are in the process of doing so, not to mention the rare internal bipartisan consensus from the Greens to the Teals to the Coalition on the need for this step. It is a state of affairs that really ought to change, both rhetorically as well as practically.

RELATED ARTICLES

(image: Shutterstock/Svet Foto)

Military strikes alone won’t stop the Houthis without direct pressure on Iran

Mar 20, 2025 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Image: X

Pay-for-Slay is likely still Pay-for-Slay

Mar 7, 2025 | Fresh AIR
Image: X

The missing pieces of the Thai hostages story

Feb 21, 2025 | Fresh AIR
Damaged section of Kamal Adwan Hospital (image: World Health Organisation)

The latest IDF raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital debunks absurd UN report

Jan 9, 2025 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (left), the late Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and the late commander of the IRGC's Qods Force Qassem Soleimani

The Axis of Resistance is not dead yet

Dec 19, 2024 | Featured, Fresh AIR
Iranian women being ushered into a van by "Morality police" (Image: X)

Iranian human rights have significantly worsened since the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests

Dec 18, 2024 | Featured, Fresh AIR
D11a774c 2a47 C987 F4ce 2d642e6d9c8d

Bibi in DC, the Houthi threat and the politicised ICJ opinion

Jul 26, 2024 | Update
Image: Shutterstock

Nine months after Oct. 7: Where Israel stands now

Jul 10, 2024 | Update
Palestinian Red Crescent workers from Al-Najjar Hospital in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip (Image: Shutterstock)

Hamas’ impossible casualty figures

Mar 28, 2024 | Update
455daec3 C2a8 8752 C215 B7bd062c6bbc

After the Israel-Hamas ceasefire for hostages deal

Nov 29, 2023 | Update
Screenshot of Hamas bodycam footage as terrorists approach an Israeli vehicle during the terror organisation's October 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel, released by the IDF and GPO (Screenshot)

Horror on Video / International Law and the Hamas War

Oct 31, 2023 | Update
Sderot, Israel. 7th Oct, 2023. Bodies of dead Israelis lie on the ground following the attacks of Hamas (Image: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa/Alamy Live News)

Israel’s Sept. 11, only worse

Oct 11, 2023 | Update
Screenshot 2025 03 28 At 11.35.48 AM

The day after the end of the Gaza war – and the new opportunities it presents: Ehud Yaari at the Sydney Institute

Mar 28, 2025 | Featured, Video
Screenshot

Jonathan Conricus in conversation with Joel Burnie

Feb 24, 2025 | Featured, Video
Sydney, January 2025 (Image: X)

Reacting to the latest antisemitic attacks: Colin Rubenstein on SBS Hebrew radio

Feb 3, 2025 | Video
Screenshot

Antisemitic bomb plot “a massive escalation”: Colin Rubenstein on Sky News

Jan 30, 2025 | Featured, Video
(Image: screenshot)

Antisemitism database “first step of many more that need to be taken”: Dr Colin Rubenstein on ABC TV

Jan 22, 2025 | Featured, Video
Screenshot 2024 12 20 At 12.44.43 PM

AIJAC speaks out against hate… Will you join us?

Dec 20, 2024 | Featured, Video

RECENT POSTS

A “deep well of hatred” in segments of the Muslim community contributed to the recent outburst  of extremism and antisemitism in Australia (Image: Diana Zavaleta/ Shutterstock)

Essay: The Politics of Hatred

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (left) may hint at agreeing to nuclear negotiations, but it is Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (right) who will ultimately make the decision (Image: Khamenei.ir)

Iran: Moving beyond diplomatic delusions

A statue of Moses holding the Ten Commandments (Image: Shutterstock)

The Last Word: One Story

Israeli PM Netanyahu controversially announces he needs to fire Shit Bet chief Ronen Bar (Screenshot)

Marching toward controversy and division

With leader Alice Weidel, Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) have a presentable face, but Europe's Jewish communities remain wary of far right populism (Image: Shutterstock)

Europa Europa: Going to extremes

SORT BY TOPICS