ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Iranian parliament on Sunday listed the armies of European countries as “terrorist groups” after the EU’s decision to apply the same designation to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

On Thursday, the EU announced designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization for “serious human rights violations” during crackdowns on nationwide protests and Tehran’s continued backing for Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Under “Article 7 of the Law on Countermeasures Against the Declaration of the IRGC as a Terrorist Organization, the armies of European countries are considered terrorist groups,” Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said, wearing the IRGC uniform as a show of solidarity.

A lawmaker said the EU’s “military attachés who are in our embassies must be expelled immediately. They are now terrorists. Hosting terrorists in the country is against the current law,” with the impact of the decision remaining unclear.

“The irresponsible action of the European Union in baselessly accusing the sacred Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of terrorism, which was done following the orders of the US president and the leaders of the Zionist regime [Israel], accelerated the path of Europe's diminishing importance in the future global order,” Ghalibaf said.

Following the EU’s designation, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran accused it of taking the decision with “complete shamelessness and brazenness” to satisfy US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington are also at their peak, with US warplanes and ships amassing in the Middle East.

Iran has been rocked by nationwide protests since late last year, which have spread to the majority of provinces and increasingly targeted the government. 

Despite US President Donald Trump having threatened to intervene if protesters are killed, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has reported that Iranian security forces have killed more than 6,100 protesters.

Tehran and Washington have traded jabs ever since the protests erupted, with increasing reports of military movement in the Persian Gulf from both sides.