House lawmakers want Trump to pressure EU to sanction Iran military group

Two House lawmakers are calling on President Trump to pressure the European Union to designate as a terrorist organization Iran’s premier military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Reps. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) and Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) are reintroducing a resolution that passed the House in the previous Congress. It is updated to encourage Trump to take action.

“The Encouraging the EU to DESIGNATE Resolution urges our allies to join our efforts to combat the IRGC by immediately designating this group as a terrorist organization,” Tenney said in a statement to The Hill.

“This will send a strong message that the West is united against the IRGC's malicious actions and that we will hold them accountable for their vile acts of terrorism.”

The EU has specific members of the IRGC on a sanctions list, but is facing growing calls to designate the IRGC as a whole as a terrorist organization.

In November, members of the European Parliament introduced a resolution calling for the EU to sanction the military group. And the French parliament in January passed a resolution urging the EU to blacklist the IRGC.

The IRGC is Iran’s leading military body and largely responsible for its export of terrorism across the world, and in particular the Middle East. The IRGC provides technical, financial and military support to proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen and proxy militias in Iraq.

“The IRGC is the backbone of Iran’s global terror network, arming proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas while aiding Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Schneider said in a statement.

“With Tehran more isolated than ever, now is the time to tighten the screws— we must not ease up or give the IRGC room to regroup. The U.S. and Canada have already acted, and I urge our European allies to join us in formally designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization.”

Trump designated the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization during his first term and greenlighted the targeted killing of the group’s top commander, General Qassem Soleimani, in January 2020.

Trump, his former national security advisor John Bolton and former secretary of State Mike Pompeo are under threat of assassination from Iran in retaliation for the Soleimani killing. Trump recently revoked the security details protecting both former officials.

Trump is generally antagonistic toward European partners, criticizing them as relying on American military might without increasing their own defense spending. On Wednesday, he threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on EU imports, saying the group of 32 nations was treating the U.S. unfairly.

A planned U.S.-EU meeting was abruptly called off in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, with officials citing "scheduling issues." The cancellation reportedly took the European delegation by surprise.

European foreign ministers are expected to meet in March to discuss Iran.

Israel has greatly weakened Iran’s proxies Hezbollah and Hamas. It also targeted for assassination a top Hamas leader in Tehran last year and conducted a military strike taking out significant Iranian air defenses.

But there’s concern that cornering the Islamic Republic’s leaders may trigger its sprint toward a nuclear weapon. A nuclear watchdog report released on Wednesday said the Islamic Republic has dramatically increased its stockpile of nuclear weapons-grade uranium fuel – enough for six nuclear bombs.

Germany, France, the UK, Russia and China are facing a July deadline to vote in the United Nations Security Council to reimpose sanctions on Iran that were lifted with the signing of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), if they view Iran as in breach of the agreement.

Trump pulled the U.S. out of that deal in 2018 but announced on Feb. 5 that he is open to diplomacy with Iran, calling for a “Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement.”

In a post on his social media site Truth Social, Trump said reports that the U.S. and Israel are working together on a military plan against Iran “ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED.”

Updated at 10:59 a.m. EST

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