Iran summons EU ambassadors to protest Revolutionary Guard being listed as a terror group

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran said Monday that it had summoned all of the European Union’s ambassadors in the country to protest the bloc’s listing of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a terror group.

The move came as Turkey tried to organize a meeting between U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian officials, seeking to jump-start talks to ease the threat of U.S. military action against Iran, two Turkish officials said.

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The American military has moved the USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers into the Middle East. It remains unclear whether U.S. President Donald Trump will decide to use force, as regional countries have engaged in diplomacy.

“Trump is trying to calibrate a response to Iran’s mass killing of protesters that punishes Iranian leaders without also embroiling the United States in a new, open-ended conflict in the region,” the New York-based Soufan Center think tank said Monday.

EU sanctions

The 27-nation bloc agreed to list the Guard as a terror group last week over its part in the crackdown on nationwide protests in January that killed thousands of people and saw tens of thousands of others detained.

Other countries, including the U.S. and Canada, have previously designated the Guard as a terrorist organization. While the move is largely symbolic, it does add to the economic pressure squeezing Iran.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told journalists that the ambassadors had begun to be summoned on Sunday and that process went into Monday as well.

“We think that in coming days, a decision will be made about a reciprocal action,” Baghaei said.

Iran’s parliamentary speaker said Sunday that the Islamic Republic now considers all EU militaries to be terrorist groups, citing a 2019 law. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch, said that it was keeping diplomatic channels open with Tehran, despite the tensions, and urged restraint from military action.

The Guard emerged from Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution as a force meant to protect the Shiite cleric-overseen government and was later enshrined in its constitution. It operates in parallel with the country’s regular armed forces and has expanded into private enterprise, allowing it to thrive.

The Guard’s Basij force likely was key in putting down the demonstrations, starting in earnest from Jan. 8, when authorities cut off the internet and international telephone calls for the nation of 85 million people. Videos that have come out of Iran via Starlink satellite dishes and other means show men likely belonging to its forces shooting and beating protesters.

On Monday, the U.K. government joined a number of countries that sanctioned Iran’s interior minister, who oversees the country’s police, and nine other Iranians for their alleged role in facilitating the violent crackdown. The individuals were subjected to immediate asset freezes and travel bans.

Turkey’s role

In Turkey, officials have been trying to organize talks with Iran and Witkoff there, two Turkish officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief journalists. One described the goal as trying to have Witkoff meet the Iranians by the end of the week, if possible.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Witkoff met multiple times last year in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program in Rome and Oman, but never finalized a deal. On June 13, Israel launched a series of attacks on Iran that sparked a 12-day war between the countries, effectively halting those talks. The U.S. bombed three Iranian nuclear sites during the war.

Baghaei of the Iranian Foreign Ministry declined to give any specifics about the possibility of talks in Ankara. The U.S. didn’t immediately comment on the possible talks.

Axios first reported on the possible talks in Turkey. The Iranian mission to U.N. did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Witkoff is expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli security officials on Tuesday, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly about the talks and spoke on condition of anonymity. He will then travel to Abu Dhabi later in the week for Russia-Ukraine talks, the official said.

Strait of Hormuz drill

Baghaei also said an exercise by the Guard in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, was “ongoing based on its timetable.”

Iran warned ships last week that a drill would be carried out on Sunday and Monday, but prior to Baghaei’s comments hadn’t acknowledged it taking place. The U.S. military’s Central Command issued a strong warning to Iran not to harass its warships and aircraft, or impede commercial vessels moving through the strait.

Satellite photos taken Sunday by Planet Labs PBC and analyzed by The Associated Press showed small vessels moving at speed in the strait between Iran’s Qeshm and Hengam islands, some distance away from the corridor commercial vessels take. The Guard relies on a fleet of small, fast-attack ships in the strait.

Asked about whether Iran could face a war, Baghaei told the public “don’t worry at all.” He declined, however, to discuss whether Trump set a deadline for Iran to respond to Washington’s demands.

State television host

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported on Monday that prosecutors in Tehran filed charges against the head of state television’s Ofogh channel, as well as producers and the host of a program who mocked those killed in the crackdown.

The program, which aired Saturday, saw the host reference allegations made abroad about Iran hiding bodies of the dead in freezers to bring out as victims if the U.S. attacks the country.

The host asked viewers a multiple-choice question about where Iran would hide the bodies, listing things like ice cream freezers and supermarket refrigerators.

The crackdown on the demonstrations killed at least 6,848 people, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in other rounds of unrest in Iran. It fears even more may be dead. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll. An additional 49,930 people have been arrested, the Human Rights Activists News Agency said.

As of Jan. 21, Iran’s government put the death toll at a far lower 3,117, saying 2,427 were civilians and security forces, labeling the rest “terrorists.” In the past, Iran’s theocracy has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest. However, the country’s presidency published a list of names Sunday it said belonged to 2,986 of those killed, something it hasn’t done in past protests.