Media Releases

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) today reiterated its call for the listing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation under Australia’s Criminal Code.

This follows comments this morning (October 22) by Shadow Foreign Minister Senator Simon Birmingham on ABC TV’s “The Insiders” – where he offered bipartisan support for the listing of the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.

Senator Birmingham told ABC-TV that he would like to see Australia take stronger action against Iran over its ongoing support for Hamas, including listing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisations and more sanctions.

“The IRGC sponsors terrorist activities around the world. Iran has been responsible of enabling Hamas, Hezbollah and the IRGC oppresses women and girls. We’ve seen suffering for a long time and people have shown courage in the last couple of years since the murder of Mahsa Amini,” Senator Birmingham said on ABC TV.

AIJAC has long advocated Australia to take a tougher stand on Iran both rhetorically and practically, and has repeatedly urged Australia take much stronger action since December 2022.

“This would bring Australia more in line with our major ally – the United States – as well as with our own values and national security interests on Iran,” AIJAC Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein said.

The US has called on its allies to take this step, with Matthew Miller, the US State Department’s official spokesman, saying last week: “We absolutely think that other countries should designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation… They finance terrorist activities, they have around the world for some time, and we think that other countries should take that step of designating them.”

Last week (October 19) AIJAC welcomed the Australian Government’s announcement of sanctions on three individuals and 11 entities associated with Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. These include the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qods Force, Air Force and Missile Command, due to its association with previously designated figures and entities working on Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.