Iran International
Australia’s planned designation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as as a terror group will be “targeted and appropriate," a spokesperson at the Attorney-General's Department told Iran International, meaning conscripts may be spared any punishments.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced in August that the government would legislate to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.
The IRGC has long been sanctioned by the United States, citing its support for armed groups like Hamas and Hezbollah across the Middle East and repression at home.
The legislation to enable the listing was introduced to parliament on Wednesday by Attorney-General Michelle Rowland.
The move follows similar steps by the United States, which listed the IRGC in 2019, and Canada, which designated the force in 2023.
Following these listings, many ordinary Iranians who were not members of the force but were conscripted into the IRGC faced obstacles with visa applications, including tourist and student renewals, and residency permits, leading rights groups and the Iranian diaspora community in Australia to wonder about the new move's scope.
Iran International reached out to Australian authorities to ask whether the legislation would distinguish between IRGC members and conscripts and how it might affect visa or immigration applications.
"The Australian Government is committed to ensuring our new legislation to amend the Criminal Code to allow the listing of state entities as terrorist organizations is targeted and appropriate," the spokesperson at the Attorney-General’s Department told Iran International.
Australia’s Home Affairs Department, which is responsible for immigration and border security, said all non-citizens must meet character requirements under section 501 of the Migration Act.
“The Department of Home Affairs works with law enforcement and intelligence partners to cancel or refuse visas of non-citizens who are a risk to Australia’s national security,” a spokesperson said. “All visa applications are assessed on a case by case basis and all criteria must be satisfied before a visa can be granted.”
'Character test'
A person can fail the character test for several reasons, the spokesperson added, including “where a non-citizen has a substantial criminal record, is suspected of associating with, or being a member of, a group involved in criminal conduct, or where the individual may have been assessed as a risk to Australia’s national security.”
“The new framework within the Criminal Code will target state sponsors of terrorism by criminalizing certain interactions with or by the listed entity, criminalizing support for the listed entity, and hardening the Australian environment against the activities of listed entities,” the spokesperson added.
Senator Claire Chandler, who has long advocated tougher measures against the IRGC, asked about the legislation's impact on conscripts, said the opposition would back the government’s plan but scrutinize it to avoid unintended consequences.
“We will be supporting the change and will examine the legislation closely to make sure it is focused on genuine security risks and does not result in unintended harm to individuals caught up in the designation,” the Tasmania lawmaker from the opposition Liberal Party told Iran International.
Iranian activists in Canada who had advocated for designating the IRGC said they were assured by Canada's government the listing would avoid harming former conscripts, however, many soon faced immigration issues after being branded IRGC members.
The state-run Supreme Labor Council has approved successive annual increases, including a 45% rise for 2025 that set the base salary at roughly 104.4 million rials.
Yet at current market rates at about 1,160,000 rials per dollar, that monthly wage is worth about $90–$110 depending on benefits, compared with about $238–$300 in 2016 when the minimum was over 81 million rials (today less than $7) and the dollar traded near 34,000 rials, according to calculations cited by ILNA.
Labor activist Bahram Hassaninejad said the living standards of wage earners have “severely declined in both quality and quantity,” adding that many now work merely to survive.
He said the erosion of workers’ material and social standing has deepened over time, with little sign of recovery to conditions seen a decade ago. “Every administration that has come to power has only completed the anti-labor policies of the previous one,” he added.
According to labor groups, modest state subsidies and food vouchers have failed to close the widening gap between wages and living costs. Many workers now take on extra or informal jobs -- from driving and street vending to collecting recyclables --in an effort to keep their families afloat.
Regular labor protests have continued over worsening economic conditions. Demonstrators often hold signs reading, “Our wages are in rials, but the costs are in dollars,” highlighting how dollar-linked prices and imported goods have eroded real incomes despite repeated pay increases.
Independent estimates reported by Iranian outlets suggest today’s base wage covers only a fraction of a typical household’s monthly expenses.
One labor advocate said a standard basket of basic goods for a three-person family far exceeds the minimum salary, adding, “With this income, a family can only cover a few days of essential costs.”
Officials say annual wage-setting follows the law, which requires consideration of inflation and basic needs. Economists caution that large nominal raises, without broader reforms, can feed prices while failing to restore purchasing power.
The outlet said years of drought and groundwater depletion have left once-fertile fields barren, destroying local agriculture and livelihoods.
Farmers told ILNA that widespread crop failure has driven them to close their orchards and shops, with some families migrating to nearby towns.
“The salt-laden winds have made breathing painful. People are leaving,” one resident said.
Local officials warned that the storms -- clouds of fine salt lifted from the desiccated lakebed -- are contaminating soil and water and triggering respiratory and even cancer-related illnesses among remaining residents.
In the village of GovarchinGhale, population has dropped from more than 470 families to around 130, mostly elderly people, according to the village council.
ILNA cited environmental experts linking the worsening crisis to decades of overpumping and illegal wells.
Urmia County Governor Rasoul Moghabeli said the number of wells in the lake basin had surged from 7,000 to over 90,000 in recent years, putting dangerous pressure on the groundwater.
Officials from the Urmia Lake Restoration Headquarters denied reports of mass migration, saying the reports were politically motivated, but acknowledged that more than 90% of water consumption in the region goes to agriculture -- much of it for water-intensive crops such as apples and sugar beet.
They warned that unless irrigation practices are reformed and unauthorized farmland reclaimed, the salt storms could expand across northwestern Iran within a decade, threatening millions of residents.
The report comes as Iran faces a deepening nationwide water emergency with 19 major dams close to depletion.
Political Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said the envoys and heads of European missions were called in after the EU-GCC communiqué questioned Iran’s sovereignty over three islands in the Persian Gulf and criticized its missile and regional activities.
“The summons followed the meddlesome allegations in the joint statement of the EU and GCC foreign ministers regarding Iran’s islands and its defensive issues,” Takht-Ravanchi said, according to state media.
The move is a response to an EU-GCC meeting whose final statement backed the UAE’s claim to Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb -- urging a peaceful settlement or referral to the ICJ -- and called for a strictly peaceful Iranian nuclear program, and curbs on the proliferation of missiles, drones and related technology.
Tehran rejects the UAE’s claims, says the three islands are integral Iranian territory, and accuses Western and Persian Gulf states of undermining its sovereignty.
The statement also called on Iran to restore full cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog. It also pressed Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis to join UN-led talks, halt Red Sea attacks and free detained aid workers.
The move comes amid heightened tensions after UN sanctions were reimposed and renewed Western pressure over Iran’s nuclear and regional activities.
Speaking at the EU-GCC High-Level Forum on Regional Security and Cooperation in Kuwait, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc sought to “encourage Iran to act as a responsible power in the Middle East” while acknowledging that the return of UN sanctions was “a setback but not the end of diplomacy.”
Kallas also linked instability in the Red Sea to Iran’s support for Yemen’s Houthi group and urged continued dialogue to reduce tensions.
Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul also accused Tehran of “projecting destabilizing influence” through its regional proxies and warned that Houthi attacks were endangering both Israel and international shipping routes.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has dismissed such criticism as politically motivated.
Spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Tuesday that “those who reimposed restrictions on Iran and accuse us of destabilization have no right to lecture us,” describing the remarks as shameful and hypocritical.
Baghaei added that European governments, which he said spend “hundreds of billions of dollars” on advanced weaponry, were in no position to question Iran’s indigenous defense capabilities.