Chatham House
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The EU’s IRGC terrorist designation marks a major shift on Iran
EXPERT COMMENT
Europe has realized that engaging Tehran without leverage, interlocutors or credible pathways to change is unsustainable. But it should not abandon Iranians altogether.
The European Union’s decision to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization last week marks the end of the EU’s long strategy of engagement with the Islamic Republic.
That strategy began in the early 1990s and endured throughout the crisis over Iran’s nuclear programme that started in late 2002. Over more than three decades, the EU sought to balance pressure with dialogue, preserving diplomatic and economic channels even at moments of acute confrontation.
The IRGC designation therefore represents not merely a policy adjustment, but the collapse of a core assumption in European Iran policy: that sustained engagement could preserve leverage, empower Iranian interlocutors and ultimately moderate Tehran’s behaviour.
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Original article link: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2026/02/eus-irgc-terrorist-designation-marks-major-shift-iran
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