In a statement released on Saturday night, the Foreign Ministry described the EU’s action as “illegal and unjustifiable,” stressing that the IRGC is an official branch of Iran’s Armed Forces and that the designation runs counter to the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter and international law.
Below is the full text of the statement:
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in response to the illegal and unjustifiable decision of the European Union member states on February 19, 2026, announces:
Since the member states of the European Union, contrary to the fundamental principles and rules of the United Nations Charter and international law, have introduced the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), which is recognized as one of the pillars of the country’s official armed forces, as a terrorist entity, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on the principle of reciprocity and pursuant to Article 7 of the Law on “Reciprocal Action in Response to the Designation of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps as a Terrorist Organization by the US” passed in 2019, which stipulates that “all countries that in any way follow or support the decision of the United States to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization are subject to reciprocal action,” considers the naval forces and air forces of all European Union member countries to be subject to the aforementioned law and its provisions, including Article 4, and therefore, within the framework of reciprocal action, identifies and declares them as terrorist organizations.