EU: Austrian Foreign Minister open to classifying Iranian Pasdaran as a terrorist group
The Austrian Foreign Minister, Alexander Schallenberg, said he was “open” to the inclusion of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Pasdaran, in the list of terrorist organizations drawn up by the EU. The head of Vienna’s diplomacy spoke upon arrival at the meeting of the Foreign and Defense Ministers of the European Union member states held today in Luxembourg. As stated by Schallenberg, “so far we have encountered legal obstacles” to classify the Pasdaran as a “terrorist organization”. Now, it is up to legal experts to say whether the situation has changed. At the same time, the Austrian Foreign Minister stressed that one must be “realistic”. The classification of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group by the EU is, in fact, “a symbolic act” because the unit is already “under sanctions”. However, if this step is possible, “then it should be taken into consideration.”
