A political agreement on the terror designation was reached at the EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels.
"All regimes that kill thousands of their own are heading towards their own downfall," wrote Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas on X when the decision was made.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) is satisfied.
"It is a very clear political signal that I think hurts (the regime), but which also provides important encouragement to the brave Iranian women and men who are now fighting for their freedom and their rights," she says after the meeting.
Thousands dead
The decision comes after countries such as France, Spain and Italy dropped their opposition to the terror designation, arguing that such a move would limit opportunities for diplomatic contacts with Iran.
Malmer Stenergard expects that the testimonies from inside Iran will ultimately be decisive.
"These are the terrible stories that have reached us. We know that thousands of people have been killed by the regime," says the Foreign Minister.
Symbolic action
The terrorist designation is primarily a symbolic act. In practical terms, there are already EU sanctions in the form of freezing any assets and a ban on financial cooperation with the Revolutionary Guard.
More such sanctions are now also being imposed on another 30 Iranians and Iranian companies and organizations, including the country's interior minister and prosecutor general. In total, the EU now has sanctions against over 300 Iranian individuals and organizations.
Iran has threatened to respond - but the EU countries are not taking it very seriously.
"It was important for us to make this decision despite such threats. With this we show that we can unite and that we are strong as a union," says Maria Malmer Stenergard.
Kaja Kallas, for her part, evades answering a question about whether the EU would currently support a US strike against Iran.
The region does not need another war, she says at her press conference.
From Iran's side, the EU's decision is condemned by the country's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who in a post on X calls it a "strategic mistake" that "exacerbates the situation."
Aviation and fleet
The terrorist designation equates the Revolutionary Guard with movements such as Hamas and al-Qaeda - or for that matter the Iranian Intelligence and Security Ministry's Directorate of Internal Security, which has already been placed on the terror list.
The Revolutionary Guard consists of ground forces, an air force and a navy, but also an intelligence service and the infamous Basij militia and the Quds Force, which is responsible for operations abroad. It was formed shortly after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, primarily to protect the then new religious state from possible coup attempts.
The EU created a special list of terrorists and terrorist groups after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.
Those on the list will have their assets frozen in the EU. No money or economic resources may be made available to them.
There are currently 13 people and 22 organizations on the list, including the LTTE guerrillas in Sri Lanka, Palestinian Hezbollah and the Kurdish PKK.
In addition, there are also special sanctions lists for IS and al-Qaeda as well as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
