West News Wire: Iran claims that as retaliation for the European Parliament’s call to designate the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, it can withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and release the UN nuclear agency inspectors.
The European Parliament backed an amendment on Wednesday urging the EU and its member states to add the IRGC to their list of terrorist organizations. On Thursday, it also passed a resolution calling for more sanctions against Iranian people and organizations and adding the IRGC to the EU’s list of terrorist organizations due to alleged abuses of human rights during recent riots.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the foreign minister of Iran, indicated on Sunday during a private session of the parliament that everything would be possible if a number of European political leaders, who he called “inexperienced in diplomacy”, do not change course and rectify their mistakes.
Amir-Abdollahian said that in his recent talks with some European Union’s senior officials, including EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell, they reassured him that they do not seek to implement the “visceral decision” made by the European Parliament against the IRGC.
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry also denounced the European Parliament’s move in a Sunday statement, saying Iran reserves the “legitimate and absolute right” to take a tit-for-tat response in the face of any move against its national security.
The ministry said the EU, while experiencing the lowest levels of unity and efficiency, proved that it is suffering from “miscalculation” and “identity crisis.”
The bloc has no free will and “has turned into a puppet of US state terrorism, the Zionist regime, and the hated, anti-national [Iranian] groups,” the statement added.
Unlike the US, the ministry argued, Europe has a territorial connection with the sensitive West Asia region. The Europeans would not have carried out such an illegal and unacceptable act, which runs counter to the UN Charter, if they had reviewed the experience of a similar action by the United States, it said.
The majority of Iranian lawmakers also censured the European Parliament’s “wrong” decision, which they said was politically motivated and based on false information and misjudgments.
The MPs asserted that it is obvious that Iran’s adversaries are now turning to such bogus actions in an effort to put pressure on the Iran politically and mediatic ally after failing to sow unrest within the nation.
They continued, “However, it is evident that such pressures cannot benefit the adversaries because there is a strong Islamic institution in Iran.
The MPs pointed out that blacklisting the IRGC as a terrorist group breaches international rules, including as national sovereignty and non-interference in other nations’ internal affairs.
They continued by saying that the Iranian parliament would undoubtedly react strongly to such a risky strategy, which would have consequences for institutions connected to military organizations of the EU and the European nations.
