The EU terrorist list and the IRGC

Fighting terrorism is described as a top priority for the European Union. “As part of its response against terrorism after the attacks of September 11, 2001, in December of that year the EU established a list of persons, groups and entities involved in terrorist acts and subject to restrictive measures. The list includes persons and groups active both within and outside the EU.”
“The common position establishes that the list will be drawn up from precise information indicating that a decision has been taken by a judicial or equivalent competent authority in respect of the person, group or entity concerned. This decision may concern initiation of investigations or prosecution for a terrorist act or an attempt to carry out or facilitate such an act, or conviction for any of those actions.”
“Persons, groups and entities can be added to the list on the basis of proposals submitted by member states based on a decision by a competent authority of a member state or a third country.”
“The persons, groups and entities in this list are subject to both the freezing of funds and other financial assets, as well as enhanced measures related to police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.”
“In addition, no funds, financial assets and economic resources can be made available to them, either directly or indirectly. These are all EU external terrorists.”
“As from September 2016, the EU can apply sanctions autonomously to ISIL/Da'esh and Al-Qaida and persons and entities that are associated with or support them.” [1]
Unanimity among EU member states is required for an organization to be added to the EU terrorist list. [2]
 
The Islamist terrorist organizations Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which like the clerical regime in Iran, have a stated goal of destroying Israel, are all on the EU list of terrorist organizations. These organizations all receive political, financial and military support from the clerical regime through Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In addition, the terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, which also receives support from the clerical regime, is on the EU terrorist list.
Furthermore, the Directorate for Internal Security under Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security, which must be assumed to have extensive cooperation with the IRGC, is also on the EU terrorist list.
Moreover 6 persons from Iran are also on the EU terrorist list. [3] [4] [5]
 
According to a report around 500 militants from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad had received special combat training in Iran in September 2023, under the supervision of the IRGC, leading up to the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel. [6]
 
In the annual country reports on terrorism by the US Department of State form 2021, it is stated that Iran continued to be the leading state sponsor of terrorism, facilitating a wide range of terrorist and other illicit activities around the world. The IRGC is described as Iran’s primary mechanism for cultivating and supporting terrorist activity abroad.
Furthermore, it is stated that “Senior al-Qa’ida (AQ) members continued to reside in the country, and Iran has refused to publicly identify members it knows to be living in Iran. Iran has allowed AQ facilitators to operate a core facilitation pipeline through Iran since at least 2009, enabling AQ to move funds and fighters to South Asia and Syria, among other locales.” [7] [8]
According to a UN report from 2023 the new de facto head of the Al-Qaida terrorist group, Saif al-Adel, is based in Iran. In that regard the US State Department spokesperson Ned Price stated that when it comes to his presence there, offering safe haven to Al-Qaida is just another example of Iran’s wide-ranging support for terrorism, and its destabilizing activities in the Middle East and beyond. [9] [10]
 
The IRGC thus provides direct or indirect political, financial and military support to at least 6 out of 23 organizations that the EU has classified as terrorist organizations. Accordingly, the IRGC supports 26% or a quarter of the terrorist organizations listed on the EU terrorist list.
In addition, 6 out of 13 persons on the EU terrorist list, equivalent to 46%, are from Iran.
 
Regarding the EU definition of terrorism and the IRGC, expert in the field Matthew Levitt writes, among other things, the following: “By any measure, the IRGC is actively engaged in exactly these types of activities, both in Europe and beyond. According to a data set maintained by this author of Iranian foreign operations (including assassination, abduction, and surveillance plots), over just the past five years Iran has instigated at least 33 plots in Europe. These include plots in EU member states like Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Other plots elsewhere in Europe occurred in Albania, Sweden, and the U.K. In each of these cases, investigations have been opened, and in many cases judicial authorities are engaged in active prosecutions targeting IRGC and other Iranian operatives. Consider, for example, the assassination plot targeting Bernard-Henri Levy in France; the plot targeting an Iranian dissident rally in Paris in 2018; plots surveilling and targeting Iranian dissidents in Albania, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Scotland, and the U.K.; and attacks on German synagogues in North Rhine-Westphalia. According to a recent report issued by Austria’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism, Iranian intelligence services - including the IRGC’s intelligence organization and its Quds Force - have spread in the country.”
“The EU should be able to rely on its own designation decisions targeting the IRGC for terrorism-related activities, such as the 2020 measure targeting Iran for its activities in Syria. That measure included Iran’s Quds Force, which the EU defined as ‘a specialist arm of the IRGC.’ That designation noted that the IRGC’s Quds Force helps the Syrian regime terrorize its own people. The EU has a long record of designating IRGC officials, in part to prevent terrorist financing. A 2012 EU measure specifically highlighted the IRGC Quds Force as being ’responsible for operations outside Iran’ and as Tehran’s principle tool ‘for special operations and support to terrorist groups.’” [11]
 
In two resolutions, from January 19 and March 16, 2023, the European Parliament called on the Council of the European Union to put the IRGC on the EU terrorist list. [12] [13]
This call is also supported by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. [14]
Furthermore, elected representatives in parliaments in a number of EU countries, including among others the Netherlands and Germany, have also called on their respective governments to do the same. [15] [16]
The Dutch government has expressed its support for putting the IRGC on the EU terrorist list. [17]
On May 10, 2023, the parliament of Sweden decided unanimously (349-0) that the IRGC should be classified as a terrorist organization. This happened with a call to the country's government to work to create agreement in the EU about including the IRGC on the EU terrorist list. [18] [19]
According to Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, there is a growing consensus among EU member states to put the IRGC on the EU terrorist list. [20]
 
Since the clerical regime's brutal suppression of the popular uprising against the regime in September 2022, the EU has introduced 10 sanctions packages against the regime, due to serious violations of human rights. In addition, the EU has introduced sanctions against the clerical regime because of the regime's support for the suppression of the population in Syria and Russia's illegal war in Ukraine. Among the individuals and entities subject to restrictive measures by the EU as a result of these sanctions, the largest group is affiliated to the IRGC. [21]
 
The call to include the IRGC on the EU terrorist list is also supported by the United States, where the organization is on the country's own terrorist list. [22]
In the Parliament of Great Britain, the Senate of Australia and the Senate of Canada, it has been agreed to call on the respective governments of the countries to categorize the IRGC as a terrorist organization. [23] [24] [25]
 
Based on the above, it is completely obvious that the IRGC should rightfully be on the EU terrorist list.
As in, for example, the Netherlands and Sweden, it would therefore be reasonable for the parliaments of EU member states to issue a call to their respective governments to work to create agreement in the EU on the inclusion of the IRGC on the EU terrorist list.

The connection between Iran and Al-Qaeda

In 2018 and 2019 Iran was described as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism by the annual Country Reports on Terrorism by the United States Department of State.
In 2020 the report stated that Iran continued to support acts of terrorism regionally and globally. Regionally, Iran supported proxies and partner groups in Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, including Hezbollah and Hamas. Globally, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force remained the primary Iranian actors involved in supporting terrorist recruitment, financing, and plots across Europe, Africa, Asia, and North and South America. Furthermore, senior Al-Qaeda leaders continued to reside in Iran and facilitate terrorist operations from there. (1)

The following is a description of a small segment of the connection between Iran and Al-Qaeda over the years. (2)

For the first time, on August 7, 1998, Al-Qaeda successfully employed Iran and Hezbollah terrorist tactics to devastating effect. Al-Qaeda carried out two simultaneous suicide truck bombings outside the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed 223 people and injuring thousands more.
Following the embassy bombings, the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York unsealed its indictment of Al-Qaeda and bin Laden on November 5, 1998. The key section of the indictment states the case explicitly: "Al-Qaeda forged alliances with the National Islamic Front in the Sudan and with the government of Iran and its associated terrorist group, Hezbollah, for the purpose of working together against their perceived common enemies in the West, particularly the United States." (3)

In November 2011, a U.S. judge found that Iran was culpable for the bombings for contributing "material support" to Al-Qaeda essential for executing the attacks. According to the judge's decision, "the government of Iran aided, abetted and conspired with Hezbollah, Osama bin Laden, and Al-Qaeda to launch large-scale bombing attacks against the United States by utilizing the sophisticated delivery mechanism of powerful suicide truck bombs… Prior to their meetings with Iranian officials and agents, bin Laden and Al-Qaeda did not possess the technical expertise required to carry out the embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. The Iranian defendants, through Hezbollah, provided explosives training to bin Laden and Al-Qaeda and rendered direct assistance to Al-Qaeda operatives." (4)

In March 2015, a U.S. federal judge found Iran, along with Sudan liable in the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen. The judge stated that "in the years leading up to the Cole bombing, Iran was directly involved in establishing Al-Qaeda’s Yemen network and supported training and logistics for Al-Qaeda in the Gulf region."​​ The judge wrote, summarizing his finding of financial, logistical and other support provided by the two governments to Al-Qaeda in the 1990s. "Iran used Lebanese Hizballah ... as its primary 'facilitator' for providing training and communications support" to Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, the judge wrote. (5)

The 9/11 Commission's chapter, "Assistance from Hezbollah and Iran to Al-Qaeda", documents Iran's facilitation of transit for Al-Qaeda members through its territory from 2000-2001. After listing various examples, the report states, "In sum, there is strong evidence that Iran facilitated the transit of Al-Qaeda members into and out of Afghanistan before 9/11, and that some of these were future 9/11 hijackers. There is also circumstantial evidence that senior Hezbollah operatives were closely tracking the travel of some of these future muscle hijackers into Iran in November 2000."
At the same time, the report asserts, "We have found no evidence that Iran or Hezbollah was aware of the planning for what later became the 9/11 attack…We believe this topic requires further investigation by the U.S. government." (6)

A senior U.S. official has told that the Commission has uncovered evidence suggesting that between eight and ten of the 14 'muscle' hijackers - that is, those involved in gaining control of the four 9/11 aircrafts and subduing the crew and passengers - passed through Iran in the period from October 2000 to February 2001. Sources also tell that Commission investigators found that Iran had a history of allowing Al-Qaeda members to enter and exit Iran across the Afghan border. This practice dated back to October 2000, with Iranian officials issuing specific instructions to their border guards about in some cases not to put stamps in the passports of Al-Qaeda personnel, and otherwise not harass them and to facilitate their travel across the frontier. (7)

Further investigation has indeed revealed evidence suggesting Iran and Hezbollah were aware of the planning for 9/11. Two defectors from Iran's intelligence service have testified that Iranian officials had 'foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks,' and one of the defectors also 'claimed that Iran was involved in planning the attacks.' (8)
Those defectors have been called as witnesses in a case brought by families of the victims of the September 11 attacks. "The court papers also include sworn statements from staff members of the 9/11 Commission, including Dietrich Snell, a former top terrorism prosecutor at the Justice Department, who states in his affidavit that 'there is clear and convincing evidence the government of Iran provided material support to Al-Qaeda in the planning and execution of the 9/11 attack.' He said the support came in the form of 'facilitating the travel of members of the 9/11 conspiracy to and from Afghanistan and Pakistan.'" (9)
In December 2011, Judge George Daniels, presiding over the case, ruled that Iran was liable for the September 11 attacks because its support for Al-Qaeda allowed the attacks to occur. He also noted that Iran "continues to provide material support and resources to Al-Qaida by providing a safe haven for Al-Qaida leadership and rank-and-file Al-Qaida members." (10)

On March 9, 2016, the civil suit filed by two insurance companies and the families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks ended in a multibillion-dollar judgment against the government of Iran. U.S. Judge George Daniels issued a default judgment against Iran. Earlier in the case, in 2011, Daniels found, "The Islamic Republic of Iran provided material support or resources…to Al-Qaeda generally. Such material support or resources took the form of, inter alia, planning, funding, facilitation of the hijackers' travel and training, and logistics, and included the provision of services, money, lodging, training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses, false documentation or identification and/or transportation." (11)
In 2018 the default judgment issued by Judge George Daniels found the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran liable for the deaths of 1,008 people whose families sued. The federal judge in New York ordered Iran to pay billions of dollars to parents, spouses, siblings and children of more than 1,000 9/11 victims. (12)

In a 2018 interview on Iranian state television, Mohammad-Javad Larijani, former secretary of the High Council for Human Rights, all but confirmed Iran's permissive relationship with Al-Qaeda, stating "The al-Qaeda members asked the Iranian authorities not to stamp their passports because the Saudi government would prosecute them if it knew they traveled to Iran. Our government agreed not to stamp the passports of some of them because they were on transit flights for two hours, and they were resuming their flights without having their passports stamped. However, their movements were under the complete supervision of the Iranian intelligence." (13)

In 2003, there were reports of a "decade-old relationship" between Ayman al-Zawahiri, then Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, and Ahmad Vahidi, Iran's former Minister of Defense. In 2001, Vahidi reportedly provided "safe harbor for some Al-Qaeda leaders who were trapped in the mountains of Tora Bora" following negotiations with al-Zawahiri. According to a European intelligence analyst, "The [Quds] Force's senior leaders have longstanding ties to Al-Qaeda, and since the fall of Afghanistan, have provided some Al-Qaeda leaders with travel documents and safe haven." (14)
In 2013, Peter T. King, a Representative in Congress and Chairman of Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence stated that "since 2001 some senior leaders on Al-Qaeda's management council have resided in Iran. Al-Qaeda uses Iran as facilitation, finance, and transport hub." (15)

In a series of designations and other official statements issued since July 2011, the US Treasury and State Department have repeatedly targeted Al-Qaeda’s "core facilitation pipeline" inside Iran. (16)
For example, on July 20, 2016, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it had sanctioned three high-level Al-Qaeda operatives who are living in Iran. (17)

According to a UN report from 2018 "Al-Qaeda leaders in the Islamic Republic of Iran have grown more prominent, working with" Zawahiri and "projecting his authority more effectively than he could previously". (18)

The CIA has released hundreds of thousands of documents, images, and computer files recovered during the May 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The material provides invaluable insights into the terrorist organization that struck America on September 11, 2001.
One 19-page document contains a senior jihadist's assessment of the group's relationship with Iran. The author explains that Iran offered some "Saudi brothers" in Al- Qaeda "everything they needed," including "money, arms" and "training in Hezbollah camps in Lebanon, in exchange for striking American interests in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf." Iranian intelligence facilitated the travel of some operatives with visas, while sheltering others. Abu Hafs al-Mauritani, an influential ideologue prior to 9/11, helped negotiate a safe haven for his jihadi comrades inside Iran. But the author of the file, who is clearly well-connected, indicates that Al-Qaeda's men violated the terms of the agreement and Iran eventually cracked down on the Sunni jihadists' network, detaining some personnel. Still, the author explains that Al-Qaeda is not at war with Iran and some of their "interests intersect," especially when it comes to being an "enemy of America."
Bin Laden urged caution when it came to threatening Iran. In a previously released letter, bin Laden described Iran as Al-Qaeda's "main artery for funds, personnel, and communication." And despite their differences, Iran continued to provide crucial support for Al-Qaeda's operations. (19)

On April 22, 2013, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced the arrest of two people in connection with plotting a terrorist attack on a passenger train that travels from Toronto through Niagara Falls into New York City.
According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the alleged terrorists were receiving assistance from Al-Qaeda elements in Iran. The RCMP stated that there were no signs of connection to state sponsorship. (20)

In 2018 U.N. sanctions monitors declared that criminal networks are using Iran as a transit point for illicit Somali charcoal exports that earn Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamist militants Al- Shabaab millions of dollars annually in tax.
The report says that since March the main destination for shipments - using fake country of origin certificates from Comoros, Ivory Coast and Ghana - has been ports in Iran, where the charcoal is packaged into white bags labeled "Product of Iran". "The bags were then reloaded onto smaller, Iran-flagged boats, and exported to Port Al Hamriya, Dubai, UAE, using certificates of origin falsely indicating the 'country of manufacture' of the charcoal as Iran," the monitors wrote. (21)

On January 12, 2021, outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered an address accusing Iran of being Al-Qaeda's "new home base". Pompeo alleged that after 30 years of cooperation, Iran and Al-Qaeda had taken their relationship to a new level in recent years. In 2015, Tehran supposedly "decided to allow Al-Qaeda to establish a new operational headquarters" on its territory, and now "the terrorist organization is operating under the hard shell of the Iranian regime's protection." (22)


-


(1)
Country Reports on Terrorism 2020
United States Department of State

https://www.state.gov/reports/country-reports-on-terrorism-2020/

Country Reports on Terrorism 2019
United States Department of State

https://www.state.gov/reports/country-reports-on-terrorism-2019/

Country Reports on Terrorism 2018
United States Department of State

https://www.state.gov/reports/country-reports-on-terrorism-2018/

(2)
Al-Qaeda and Iran: Alliance Against the US
United Against Nuclear Iran

https://www.unitedagainstnucleariran.com/al-qaeda-iran

(3)
US Grand Jury indictment against Usama Bin Laden
United States District Court
Southern District of New York
November 5, 1998

https://irp.fas.org/news/1998/11/98110602_nlt.html

(4)
Iran responsible for 1998 U.S. embassy bombings
Marc A. Thiessen
The Washington Post December 8, 2011

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/iran-responsible-for-1998-us-embassy-bombings/2011/12/08/gIQAuEAAfO_story.html

U.S. District Court
The District of Columbia
Judge John D. Bates
November 28, 2011

https://legaltimes.typepad.com/files/bates-opinion-3.pdf

(5)
Judge orders Sudan, Iran to pay $75 million to family of USS Cole victim
Spencer S. Hsu
The Washington Post March 31, 2015

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/judge-orders-sudan-iran-to-pay-75-million-to-family-of-uss-cole-victim/2015/03/31/a2105dd8-d7b8-11e4-ba28-f2a685dc7f89_story.html

(6)
The 9/11 Commission Report
July 22, 2004

https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report.pdf#page=258

(7)
9/11 Commission Finds Ties Between al-Qaeda and Iran
Adam Zagorin and Joe Klein
Time July 16, 2004

http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,664967,00.html

(8)
Court Filings Assert Iran Had Link to 9/11 Attacks
Benjamin Weiser and Scott Shane

The New York Times May 19, 2011

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/world/middleeast/20terror.html?_r=1

(9)
The 9/11 Commission's Unfinished Business: What Did Iran Know?
Philip Shenon
The Daily Beast July 13, 2017

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-911-commissions-unfinished-business-what-did-iran-know

(10)
NY Judge: Iran, Taliban, Al-Qaida Liable For 9/11 Attack
CBS New York December 22, 2011

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/ny-judge-iran-taliban-al-qaida-liable-for-911-attack/

Iran 911 Case

Havlish, et al vs. Osama Bin Laden, Iran, et al

https://iran911case.com 

(11)

Iran Told to Pay $10.5 Billion to Sept. 11 Kin, Insurers 

Bob Van Voris

Bloomberg March 9, 2016

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-10/iran-told-to-pay-10-5-billion-to-sept-11-kin-insurers 

New York Federal Judge Finds Iran Provided Material Support for 9/11 Attacks
Joseph Braude
Asharq Al-Awsat March 17, 2016

https://eng-archive.aawsat.com/joseph-braudeasharqalawsat-com/news-middle-east/latest-news/six-exclusive-documents-indict-iran-hezbollah-for-911-attacks

Ashton, et al v. Al Qaeda Islamic, et al

United States District Court 

Southern District of New York 

March 9, 2016

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nysdce/1:2002cv06977/39284/785/

(12)
Iran ordered to pay billions to relatives of 9/11 victims
Aaron Katersky
ABC News May 1, 2018

https://abcnews.go.com/International/iran-ordered-pay-billions-relatives-911-victims/story?id=54862664

(13)
Iranian Politician Discusses Facilitation Of 9/11 Hijackers
Hanna Bogorowski
Daily Caller June 8, 2018

https://dailycaller.com/2018/06/08/iran-facilitated-passage-of-9-11-attackers-politician/

Daily Caller: Iran Facilitated Passage of 9/11 Attackers
Timothy Meads
Townhall June 9, 2018

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/timothymeads/2018/06/09/daily-caller-iran-facilitated-passage-of-911-attackers-n2489052

Iranian official: We protected al-Qaeda terrorists before 9/11
Mary Kay Linge
New York Post June 9, 2018

https://nypost.com/2018/06/09/iran-admits-it-protected-al-qaeda-terrorists-before-9-11/amp/

(14)
Iranian Force Has Long Ties to Al Qaeda
Dana Priest and Douglas Farah
The Washington Post October 14, 2003

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/10/14/iranian-force-has-long-ties-to-al-qaeda/35ad4db7-3ff8-47a5-9673-4e1b5788b3b3/

(15)
Assessing the threat to the homeland from Al-Qaeda operations in Iran and Syria
U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Homeland Security
Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence
Washington DC. May 22, 2013

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-113hhrg85684/html/CHRG-113hhrg85684.htm

(16)
State Department: Iran continues to host al Qaeda's 'core facilitation pipeline'
Thomas Joscelyn
Long War Journal July 23, 2017

https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2017/07/state-department-iran-continues-to-host-al-qaedas-core-facilitation-pipeline.php

(17)
Al Qaeda's Iran connection
Sean Durns
The Washington Times September 8, 2016

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/sep/8/al-qaedas-iran-connection/

(18)
UN: Iran-based leaders 'have grown more prominent' in al Qaeda's global network
Thomas Joscelyn
The Long War Journal August 14, 2018

https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2018/08/un-iran-based-leaders-have-grown-more-prominent-in-al-qaedas-global-network.php

Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Da'esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities
United Nations July 27, 2018

https://undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=S%2F2018%2F705&Language=E&DeviceType=Desktop&LangRequested=False

(19)
Analysis: CIA releases massive trove of Osama bin Laden's files
Thomas Joscelyn and Bill Roggio
Long War Journal November 1, 2017

https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2017/11/analysis-cia-releases-massive-trove-of-osama-bin-ladens-files.php

(20)
Canada thwarts "al Qaeda-backed" train plot, Iran denies role
Euan Rocha and Alastair Sharp
Reuters April 23, 2013

https://www.reuters.com/article/idCABRE93L0YW20130423

(21)
Iran is new transit point for Somali charcoal in illicit trade taxed by militants: U.N. report
Michelle Nichols
Reuters October 9, 2018

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-somalia-sanctions-un-idUSKCN1MJ158

Report on Somalia of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea
Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 751 (1992) and 1907 (2009) concerning Somalia and Eritrea
United Nations November 9, 2018

https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_2018_1002.pdf

(22)
Why Are Al Qaeda Leaders in Iran?
Cole Bunzel
Foreign Affairs February 11, 2021

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/afghanistan/2021-02-11/why-are-al-qaeda-leaders-iran

The Iran-al-Qa'ida Axis

Michael R. Pompeo

Secretary of State

National Press Club January 12, 2021

https://2017-2021.state.gov/the-iran-al-qaida-axis/index.html

-

The Iranian president and his cabinet

In August 2021 Ebrahim Raisi became the president of Iran. Before that he had been head of the Iranian judiciary.

On that occasion Amnesty International stated the following:

"That Ebrahim Raisi has risen to the presidency instead of being investigated for the crimes against humanity of murder, enforced disappearance and torture, is a grim reminder that impunity reigns supreme in Iran. In 2018, our organization documented how Ebrahim Raisi had been a member of the 'death commission' which forcibly disappeared and extrajudicially executed in secret thousands of political dissidents in Evin and Gohardasht prisons near Tehran in 1988. The circumstances surrounding the fate of the victims and the whereabouts of their bodies are, to this day, systematically concealed by the Iranian authorities, amounting to ongoing crimes against humanity.
As Head of the Iranian Judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi has presided over a spiralling crackdown on human rights which has seen hundreds of peaceful dissidents, human rights defenders and members of persecuted minority groups arbitrarily detained. Under his watch, the judiciary has also granted blanket impunity to government officials and security forces responsible for unlawfully killing hundreds of men, women and children and subjecting thousands of protesters to mass arrests and at least hundreds to enforced disappearance, and torture and other ill-treatment during and in the aftermath of the nationwide protests of November 2019.
Ebrahim Raisi's rise to the presidency follows an electoral process that was conducted in a highly repressive environment and barred women, members of religious minorities and candidates with opposing views from running for office." (1)

Prominent former U.N. judges and investigators have called on U.N. human rights boss Michelle Bachelet to investigate the 1988 'massacre' of political prisoners in Iran, including the alleged role of its current president, Ebrahim Raisi, at that time.
They did that in an open letter signed by some 460 people, including a former president of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Sang-Hyun Song, and Stephen Rapp, a former U.S. ambassador for global criminal justice. (2)

Raisi is under U.S. sanctions over a past that includes what the United States and activists say was his involvement as one of four judges who oversaw the 1988 killings. Amnesty International has put the number executed at some 5,000, saying in a 2018 report that the real number could be higher. (3)

Regarding the November 2019 uprising, when Raisi was head of the Iranian judiciary, Amnesty International stated the following:

"Amnesty International has released details of the deaths of 304 men, women and children killed by Iran's security forces during last November’s ruthless crackdown, six months after the protests.
The organization found that more than 220 of the recorded deaths took place over just two days on 16 and 17 November. New and extensive research has again concluded that the security forces' use of lethal force against the vast majority of those killed was unlawful.
In almost all protests that took place between 15 and 19 November, there is no evidence that people were in possession of firearms or that they posed an imminent threat to life that would have warranted the use of lethal force, according to research, including video analysis, conducted by Amnesty International. The organization is aware of two exceptions in one city on 18 November where gunfire was exchanged between protesters and security forces.
"The fact that so many people were shot while posing no threat whatsoever shows the sheer ruthlessness of the security forces' unlawful killing spree," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
"Six months later, the devastated families of victims continue their struggle for truth and justice while facing intense harassment and intimidation from the authorities."
"The prevailing impunity afforded to the security forces allows the recurrence of lethal force to crush dissent. In the absence of any meaningful prospect for accountability at the national level, we reiterate our call to members of the UN Human Rights Council to mandate an inquiry into the killings, and identify pathways for truth, justice and reparations," he added.
According to information gathered by Amnesty International, in all but four cases the victims were shot dead by Iranian security forces - including members of the Revolutionary Guards, paramilitary Basij forces and the police - firing live ammunition, often at the head or torso, indicating that they were shooting to kill. Of the remaining four victims, two reportedly suffered fatal head injuries after being beaten by members of the security forces. Another two were recorded as having suffocated from tear gas." (4)

According to Reuters about 1,500 people were killed during less than two weeks of unrest that started on 15 November. The toll, provided to Reuters by three Iranian interior ministry officials, included at least 17 teenagers and about 400 women as well as some members of the security forces and police. (5)

The cabinet of Ebrahim Raisi, represents the culmination of a decades-long political project by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to promote ultra-hardline elites to key leadership positions.
Raisi’s cabinet consists of 12 sanctioned individuals, which is more than any other in the history of the Islamic Republic. As such almost 40 percent of the cabinet are subject to sanctions.
These persons are subject to overlapping international penalties imposed by the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, and United Nations due to their role in Khamenei's networks, support for Iran's nuclear program, ties to terrorist groups, and human rights abuses. These 12 also hold some of the most important positions, including the ministries of defense, interior, and petroleum as well as two vice presidencies.
Furthermore, two members of Raisi's cabinet are subject to Interpol Red Notices - requests to locate wanted criminals - for their involvement in the 1994 terror attack against the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which killed 85 people. They are both affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
At least three members of Raisi's cabinet have attained the rank of general in the IRGC, and multiple others have worked with or retain ties to the IRGC, which the United States has designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. (6)


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(1)
Iran: Ebrahim Raisi must be investigated for crimes against humanity
Amnesty International June 19, 2021

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/06/iran-ebrahim-raisi-must-be-investigated-for-crimes-against-humanity/

(2)
UN urged to open query into Iran's 1988 killings and Raisi role
Stephanie Nebehay
Reuters January 27, 2022

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-urged-open-query-into-irans-1988-killings-raisi-role-2022-01-27/

(3)
EXCLUSIVE U.N. expert backs probe into Iran's 1988 killings, Raisi's role
Stephanie Nebehay
Reuters June 29, 2021

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/exclusive-un-expert-backs-probe-into-irans-1988-killings-raisis-role-2021-06-29/

Iran committing crimes against humanity by concealing fate of thousands of slaughtered political dissidents
Amnesty International December 4, 2018

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/12/iran-committing-crimes-against-humanity-by-concealing-fate-of-thousands-of-slaughtered-political-dissidents/?utm_source=Eye+on+Iran%3A+U.S.+Sends+Aircraft+Carrier+To+Persian+Gulf+In+Show+Of+Force+Agains&utm_campaign=eye-on-iran&utm_medium=email

(4)
Iran: Details released of 304 deaths during protests six months after security forces' killing spree
Amnesty International May 20, 2020

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/05/iran-details-released-of-304-deaths-during-protests-six-months-after-security-forces-killing-spree/

(5)
Special Report: Iran's leader ordered crackdown on unrest - 'Do whatever it takes to end it'
Reuters December 23, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-protests-specialreport-idUSKBN1YR0QR

(6)
The Sanctioned Cabinet of Ebrahim Raisi
Behnam Ben Taleblu
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) September 30, 2021

https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2021/09/30/the-sanctioned-cabinet-of-ebrahim-raisi/


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