Encouraging the EU to DESIGNATE Resolution

Subjects: International Affairs


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 288 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 288

   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

                             April 13, 2023

   Ms. Tenney (for herself, Ms. Porter, Mr. Kean of New Jersey, Mr. 
 Schneider, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Gottheimer, Mr. Norman, Mrs. McBath, 
Mr. Nunn of Iowa, Ms. Brownley, Mrs. Boebert, Mr. Moskowitz, Ms. Mace, 
  Ms. Barragan, Ms. Salazar, Ms. Manning, Mr. Lawler, Ms. Titus, Mr. 
 Mast, Mr. Trone, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Levin, 
 Mrs. Lee of Nevada, and Mr. Ryan) 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 by Ayatollahs Khomeini and Khamenei to maintain the 
        Iranian regime's power;
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 are actively suppressing the ongoing protests sparked by 
        the death of Mahsa Amini and calls for the regime to be toppled;
Whereas the IRGC Basij are responding 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 dangerous 
        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 continues to provide critical support to Bashar al-Assad and 
        his autocratic regime in Syria;
Whereas the IRGC is actively fueling 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 Iranian-assisted Russian war of aggression poses a direct threat to 
        European security and sovereignty;
Whereas the IRGC has targeted dissidents around the world, including throughout 
        Europe;
Whereas the IRGC Quds Force is responsible for Iranian extraterritorial 
        operations, and they likely 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 
        either arrested or expelled Iranian Government officials implicated in 
        terrorist or assassination plots in their respective countries;
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 
        for their efforts targeting the IRGC and killing IRGC-Quds Force 
        Commander Qasem Soleimani;
Whereas the IRGC was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the 
        United States in 2019;
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 voted overwhelmingly in 
        favor separate Iran-focused resolution that called for designating the 
        IRGC as a terrorist organization;
Whereas thus far the European Union has 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'';
Whereas proposals for terrorist organization designations by the European Union 
        can come from third-party countries, including the United States; and
Whereas previous Department of Justice investigations and convictions provide 
        the European Union sufficient proof under Common Position 931: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This resolution may be cited as the ``Encouraging the European 
Union to Determine that the European Union Should Sanction the Iranian 
Revolutionary Guard Corps Now As a Terrorist Entity Resolution'' or the 
``Encouraging the EU to DESIGNATE Resolution''.

SEC. 2. EUROPEAN UNION DESIGNATION OF IRGC AS A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.

    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 Biden 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.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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