H.Res. 176

119 HRES 176 IH: Encouraging the European Union to Determine that the European Union Should Sanction the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Now As a Terrorist Entity Resolution
 U.S. House of Representatives
 2025-02-27
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 IV  119th CONGRESS  1st Session  H. RES. 176  IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES   February 27, 2025   Ms. Tenney  (for herself,  Mr. Schneider ,  Mr. Sherman ,  Ms. Salazar ,  Ms. Titus ,  Mr. Lawler ,  Mr. Gottheimer ,  Mr. Costa ,  Mr. Smith of New Jersey ,  Mr. Yakym ,  Mr. Lieu ,  Mr. Auchincloss ,  Ms. Ross ,  Mr. Kean ,  Mr. Steube , and  Mr. Wilson of South Carolina ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the  Committee on Foreign Affairs    RESOLUTION
Urging the European Union to expeditiously designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization under Common Position 931, and for other purposes.
Whereas the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Basij paramilitary force have been used for more than 45 years by Ayatollahs Khomeini and Khamenei to maintain the Iranian regime’s power;
Whereas the IRGC was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States in 2019;
Whereas the IRGC was designated as a terrorist entity by Canada in 2024;
Whereas the IRGC Basij have been used to quash numerous protests and democratic uprisings in Iran, including the Green Movement;
Whereas the IRGC Basij continue to perpetrate wide-scale human rights abuses inside Iran, including against women, children, and minorities;
Whereas the IRGC Basij suppressed widespread protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini;
Whereas the IRGC Basij responded to these demonstrations with violence, arrests, and murder, including the arrest of journalists covering these protests;
Whereas the IRGC trains, funds, arms, and shares intelligence with terrorist proxy forces throughout the Middle East and abroad, including Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Houthis, and Kata’ib Hezbollah, which have targeted civilians and both Europeans and Americans;
Whereas the IRGC provided critical support to Bashar al-Assad and his autocratic regime in Syria;
Whereas the IRGC is actively supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine through the provision of hundreds of lethal kamikaze drones and overseeing plans for the construction of a new factory in Russia with the capacity to produce thousands of Iranian-designed drones;
Whereas the Russian war of aggression, with Iranian support, poses a direct threat to European security and sovereignty;
Whereas the IRGC has attempted to assassinate dissidents around the world, including throughout Europe and in the United States;
Whereas the IRGC Quds Force is responsible for Iranian extraterritorial operations, and they has played a key role in Iranian assassinations in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany, Bulgaria, and Cyprus in recent years;
Whereas the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Denmark, and Albania have all arrested or expelled Iranian Government officials implicated in terrorist or assassination plots in their respective countries;
Whereas the IRGC Quds Force provides funds, weaponry, and training to Hamas, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization which carried out the horrific October 7th attacks, leading to the death and kidnapping of American and European citizens;
Whereas the IRGC engaged in a murder-for-hire plot to target former National Security Advisor John Bolton and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo;
Whereas the IRGC has plotted to assassinate President Doanld J. Trump;
Whereas Iran executed British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari and as a result the United Kingdom is considering designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization;
Whereas in response to the European Union’s consideration of designating the IRGC a terrorist organization, IRGC Commander Hossein Salami has threatened European countries;
Whereas the European Parliament, in January 2023, voted 598 to 9 in favor of designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization as part of its annual foreign and security policy report;
Whereas the European Parliament, also in January 2023 and April 2024, voted overwhelmingly in favor separate Iran-focused resolutions that called for designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization;
Whereas multiple member states have called upon the European Union to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization;
Whereas the European Union has thus far only sanctioned individual members and leaders of the IRGC as terrorists but have not yet designated the IRGC in its entirety;
Whereas under European Council Common Position of December 27, 2001, on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism (2001/931/CFSP) (in this preamble referred to as  Common Position 931 ), the European Union can designate terrorist organizations if  a decision has been taken by a competent authority  that they are a terrorist organization;
Whereas under Council Common Position 931 on combating terrorism, the European Union defines  competent authority  to include  a judicial authority ; and
Whereas proposals for terrorist organization designations by the European Union can come from third-party countries, including the United States: Now, therefore, be it
1.
Short title
This resolution may be cited as the   Encouraging the European Union to Determine that the European Union Should Sanction the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Now As a Terrorist Entity Resolution   or the   Encouraging the EU to DESIGNATE Resolution  .
2.
European union designation of IRGC as a terrorist organization
The House of Representatives—
(1)
urges the European Union to expeditiously designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization under Common Position of December 27, 2001, on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism (2001/931/CFSP);
(2)
encourages the Trump administration make European Union designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization a diplomatic priority in engagements with the European Union; and
(3)
welcomes the efforts of the international community to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.