Encouraging the EU to DESIGNATE Resolution

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 176 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 176

   Urging the European Union to expeditiously designate the Islamic 
  Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization under Common 
                 Position 931, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    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
    Resolved,

                              short title

    Sec. 1. 
    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''.

     european union designation of irgc as a terrorist organization

    Sec. 2. 
    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.
                                 <all>