Belgium’s parliament passed a resolution early Friday backing efforts to designate the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist organization on the EU list, with lawmaker Darya Safai calling the move a strong political signal.
Safai, who led the years-long push, said the resolution was approved at 2:30 a.m. with 135 votes in favor, 14 abstentions, and none opposed. “Today is the day that justice will be served, a day that the victims of this regime will always remember as a victory against their murderers,” she wrote on X.
"My resolution to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of the Iranian regime as a terrorist organization was approved today in the Belgian Parliament," Safai added.
She said the resolution not only calls for the EU to designate the IRGC but also urges “the unconditional and immediate release of Ahmadreza Djalali” and an end to executions by Iranian authorities. Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian academic arrested in Iran in 2016, was sentenced to death on espionage charges, which he denies.
Safai described the IRGC as “a murder machine that not only wages war against the Iranian people in Iran, but also spreads terror and murder throughout the region through its proxies.” In an earlier post, she said the IRGC is involved in terrorism, arms trafficking, and support for groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis, and accused it of fueling conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, and Ukraine.
Safai’s proposal was backed earlier this month by the Belgian parliament’s foreign affairs committee. It had previously received political support from then-Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib.
The new Belgian government, led by Bart De Wever, reaffirmed that position in its coalition agreement, which said "The government advocates for the inclusion of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the European Union's list of terrorist organizations."
The IRGC, a powerful branch of Iran’s armed forces, was designated a terrorist organization by the United States in 2019 under President Donald Trump. The US and Canada have urged their European allies to follow suit.
The caption to the cartoon cites part of a speech Khamenei made the previous day in which he said Iranian attacks forced Israel to seek US intervention.
"If (Israel) hadn’t bowed down, if it hadn’t collapsed to the ground, if it didn’t need help, if it were capable of defending itself, it wouldn’t have resorted to the United States like that. Turning to the United States means it realized it could not handle the Islamic Republic."
In the speech, Khamenei added, "we deem the Zionist regime a cancer," and called Israel America's "rabid dog".
Iranian officialdom has repeatedly declared victory following a 12-day war with Israel last month in which its Mideast nemesis pounded military bases and nuclear sites and killed hundreds of personnel, nuclear scientists and civilians.
Retaliatory Iranian missile salvos killed 27 Israeli civilians. The conflict was capped by US attacks on three Iranian nuclear sites which President Donald Trump said "obliterated" Tehran's disputed program.
Following the conflict, Iranian state TV aired a song calling for “uprooting the Jews” which aired July 2.
“Behind Ali, obedient to the Leader’s command, we are all proud soldiers; we will uproot the Jews with power,” the song said.
Iran’s state media has repeatedly promoted antisemitic themes across films, festivals, and official speeches.
In 2001, the government aired a mini-series titled Saint Mary that depicted Jewish communities at the time of Jesus’s birth as “lacking compassion and rationality.” The Jewish Association of Tehran criticized the series for reinforcing harmful stereotypes.
In 2005, then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hosted an international Holocaust cartoon competition. Ahmadinejad, who publicly denied the Holocaust, once said Israel should be “wiped off the map.” The contest continues today with backing from official cultural institutions.
Despite the official hostility, Iran maintains a Jewish population estimated between 8,000 and 10,000. The World Jewish Congress notes the community’s historical presence in Iran since 586 BCE, with roughly 100 synagogues still in operation.