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