Iran has designated European armed forces as “terrorist groups” in retaliation for a European Union decision to apply the same label to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Sunday the move had been taken under Article 7 of a law designed to counter foreign designations of the IRGC.
“Europeans have in fact shot themselves in the foot and, once again, through blind obedience to the Americans, decided against the interests of their own people,” Mr Ghalibaf said.
The EU’s decision was announced on Thursday by the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, following Iran’s violent crackdown on recent protests.
Ms Kallas said the repression carried out by Iranian authorities could not “go unanswered”.
“Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise,” she wrote on social media.
The IRGC, a powerful branch of Iran’s military with significant political and economic influence, has been accused by Western governments and human rights groups of playing a central role in suppressing dissent.
The escalation is expected to further strain already tense relations between Iran and the European Union.
