Lithuania has become the first country in the European Union to officially designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, as a terrorist organization.

The decision was announced by Laurynas Kasčiūnas, the chairman of the Lithuanian Parliament’s Committee on National Security and Defense, following a parliamentary session. “We are the first in the EU to take a stand, declaring this organization as terrorist,” Kasčiūnas stated. 

Kasčiūnas emphasized that this assessment by Lithuanian lawmakers will be followed by organizational consequences.

“Now, the Ministry of the Interior will have to ensure that members of this terrorist corps do not cross Lithuania’s border,” he explained.