UK Pondering IRGC’s Terrorist Designation After Threats To Journalists

In an interview with Al-Arabiya Macron said, “We must change the way we deal with the Iranian threat in the world,” adding that sanctions against the clerical government should not harm its people.

Macron, who had traveled to Egypt to participate in the COP27 United Nations climate gathering, said “We must cooperate in an organized manner to counter Iran's threats.”

Earlier, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the sidelines of the same gathering considered the actions of the Islamic Republic to be the cause of instability in the Middle East region.

He said in a meeting with UAE president Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan that the situation in Iran has become complicated with the repression of the protesters after death of Mahsa Amini in September.

Previously, Britain announced it had sanctioned the “morality police” because of “several decades of threats, arrests and violence” against Iranian women.

Also, on Monday, the German government announced that the European Union will decide on the inclusion of the Revolutionary Guard in the new package of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Ties between the Islamic Republic and the West are increasingly strained with Germany being among the first that started evacuating the families of the personnel of its embassy in Tehran and the teachers of German-run schools.

In mid-October, the EU sanctioned eleven Iranian individuals and four organizations for their role in the death of Mahsa Amini and the crackdown on the ongoing protests.

The ministry said in a statement on Monday, that these people were detained in different provinces as well as “at the eastern borders while fleeing the country.”

The ministry identified the assailant in Shahcheragh shrine as a Tajik citizen named Sobhan Komrooni with the nickname “Abu Aisha” and an Afghan person named Mohammed Ramez Rashidi as the “supporting element” of the operation.

Earlier, Esmail Mohebi, a top official at Fars governorate, announced the death of “the perpetrator of the attack on the shrine” who was injured and hospitalized in southern city of Shiraz.

In the statement, a citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan was named as the “main element of directing and coordinating” the attack, who “flew from Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku and entered the country through Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport.”

“After arriving in Tehran, this person announced his presence to the coordinating element in the Republic of Azerbaijan and immediately contacted the network of foreign nationals of the ISIS to inform them about his presence in Tehran,” reads the statement.

The allegations by Iran cannot be confirmed by any independent source and the Republic of Azerbaijan has yet to react to the claim.

ISIS took responsibility for the attack on the Shahcheragh in Shiraz on October 26, but some questioned the Islamic Republic’s account saying it was staged by the regime itself to distract attention from nationwide protests.

Accordingto a reportby German magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday, a package containing 31 proposals was introduced in Brussels on November 2, targeting individuals and institutions in the security sector as well as companies responsible for suppression of the current wave of protests, ignited by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

Measures include the freezing of assets and travel bans, the magazine said without disclosing its sources, adding that the new punitive measures have a good chance of being approved by EU foreign ministers at their upcoming meeting slated for November 14.

Ties between the Islamic Republic and the West are increasingly strained with Germany being among the first that started evacuating the families of the personnel of its embassy in Tehran and the teachers of German-run schools.

Germany's government on Thursday urged its citizens to leave the country or risk arbitrary arrest and long prison terms there.

Late in October, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that her country and the European Union were examining whether to classify Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization for its use of violence in the protests.

In mid-October, the EU sanctioned eleven Iranian individuals and four organizations for their role in the death of Mahsa Amini and the crackdown on the ongoing protests. These are the first and so far only EU sanctions over the ongoing protests.

Social media users say the incident is related to the heavy crackdown on protesters by government forces in the southeastern province.

However, the city police chief alleges that a personal dispute between the attacker and another soldier led to the shooting while other personnel present at the headquarters intervened.

“This incident led to death of three police staff and one soldier, and the assailant is under arrest,” added Bampur’s police chief.

Sistan and Baluchestan has been the hotbed of anti-regime demonstrations since September after protests against Mahsa Amini’s death spread to over 100 cities across Iran.

Security forces killed scores of Sunnis during protests on September 30, and the influential cleric of the provincial capital Zahedan Molavi Abdolhamid held Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei responsible.

The attack by the IRGC left more than 90 unarmed Baluch citizens dead as reported by human rights watchdogs in Iran and abroad.

Security forces once again opened fire at protesters with live ammunition while a huge crowd of people chanted “Death to Khamenei” and “Death to Dictator” during protests in Khash and Zahedan following Friday prayers November 4.

Molavi Abdolhamid, who called for a plebiscite in Iran during his Friday prayer sermon November 4, confirmed the death of at least 16 people and dozens of more injuries in Khash.

In a tweet Sunday, Malley was reacting to Hossein Amir-Abdollahian's admission that Iran provided military drones to Russia, but before the Ukraine war. Tehran's top diplomat said his government will act if evidence exists of Iranian drones being used in the war.

Malley, however, said that "Iran didn’t give a limited number of drones before the war. They transferred dozens just this summer & have military personnel in occupied Ukraine helping Russia use them against Ukrainian civilians. Confronted with evidence, they need a new policy, not a new story."

The United States warned in July that Iran was preparing to supply drones to its ally Russia, as the war in Ukraine was going badly for Moscow. By October, Ukraine was showing evidence of dozens of Iranian Shahed-136 suicide drones targeting its infrastructure and cities.

Europe and the US have adopted a tough position on the issue, warning of more sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Tehran first denied it had supplied weapons to the warring sides in Ukraine but has now admitted that it has supplied drones without any specifics.

In recent days reports have emerged claiming that Tehran is also preparing to supply ballistic missile to Moscow, as its stockpile of conventional missiles are running low.

Iran is already subject to US oil export and international banking sanctions over its nuclear program.