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The Urgency for the UK and EU to Proscribe Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)
(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Dan Diker - The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is mandated by Iran's constitution to pursue "an ideological mission of jihad in the way of Allah, that is, extending sovereignty of Allah's law throughout the world." It was responsible for the bloodshed on the streets of Iran in November 2019 that left 1,500 people dead in less than two weeks. The IRGC is responsible for kidnapping and the extraterritorial and extrajudicial execution of Iranian dissidents and opposition figures beyond Iran's borders. The IRGC has a long record of terror in the United Kingdom and Continental Europe, and has even penetrated the United States and Latin America. On January 12, 2023, the House of Commons voted unanimously in favor of a measure calling for the UK to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organization. In February 2023, the chief of MI5 reported foiling or exposing at least 15 kidnapping or assassination plots by the IRGC targeting UK citizens since January 2022 alone. Due to its active involvement in terrorist operations around the globe, the IRGC has been deemed illegal by the U.S. government, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Sweden. Great Britain and Europe should follow suit. The writer is President of the Jerusalem Center.