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Green boss Omid Nouripour
Photo: Florian Gaertner / photothek / IMAGO
According to Green Party leader Omid Nouripour, Iran's Revolutionary Guards are "the main carriers of repression" in the country and should therefore be put on the EU's terror list.
"When I ask the demonstrators in Iran how we can help, they say: The people who kill our children shouldn't be allowed to send their children to Europe to party," Nouripour told the "Bild am Sonntag".
'The accounts used to fund the partying have to be frozen for this.
The EU should put the Revolutionary Guards, the main agents of repression, on its terror list,” he demanded.
The strength of the protesters in Iran is "immeasurable," he added.
They no longer believed in gradual reforms, but wanted a different, democratic Iran.
"We should do everything in our power to give people protection and attention," Nouripour demanded.
Because of the violent action taken by the Iranian authorities against demonstrators, the EU states want to impose sanctions on Monday against 31 other responsible persons and organizations.
There are also efforts to put the Revolutionary Guards on the EU's terror list.
According to reports, there is no consensus among the member states on this.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had previously confirmed that there should be further EU sanctions against Iran.
Words alone weren't enough, "given the brutality and contempt for human beings," he said.
“Further sanctions will be added next week.
We want to further increase the pressure on the Revolutionary Guards and the political leadership," added Scholz.
The United States has classified Revolutionary Guards as terrorists since 2019
The United States had already classified the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization in 2019 under then-President Donald Trump.
On the other hand, they are not on a corresponding EU list.
Such a classification would enable EU states to freeze any assets of the organization that may exist in the EU.
The Revolutionary Guards are the elite unit of the armed forces in Iran and far more important than the classic army.
They report directly to the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all strategic matters.
In Iran, people have been protesting against the government and the Islamic system of rule since mid-September.
The trigger was the death of the 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Jina Mahsa Amini in police custody.
Iran claims to have developed a hypersonic missile
Iran claims to have successfully completed the development of a hypersonic ballistic missile.
"This missile will target the enemy's advanced missile defense systems and represents a major generational leap in this field," the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Revolutionary Guards Air Force Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh as saying on Thursday.
So far, there have been no reports of hypersonic missile tests from Iran.
Concerns about Iran's missile program were one of the reasons behind then-President Donald Trump's US withdrawal from the international nuclear deal in 2018.
Hypersonic missiles are difficult to intercept by defense systems because of their high speed and complex trajectory.
The speed can be at least five times the speed of sound, i.e. around 6200 kilometers per hour.
Russia has already used hypersonic missiles in the war of aggression against Ukraine.
According to insiders, the United States had successfully tested a hypersonic missile in July.
North Korea is also said to be working on such missiles.
col/dpa/AFP/Reuters
