ACLJ and ECLJ Send Demand Letter to 43 Countries Calling for New Sanctions on Iran and Designation of IRGC as a Terrorist Organization After Iran’s Direct Missile Attack on Israel

The Islamic Republic of Iran, the leading state sponsor of terrorism, recently openly violated the United Nations Charter’s prohibition on acts of aggression. It attacked Israel by launching over 300 drones and cruise and ballistic missiles at Israel. While this attack was not successful in inflicting mass casualties in Israel, it was still in violation of Article 2(4) of the U.N. Charter and the universal prohibition on acts of aggression.

Because Iran continues to support terrorism around the world and especially in the Middle East against the Jewish State of Israel, and because it has now openly launched a direct attack against Israel from its own territory, we have sent demand letters to 43 countries urging them to impose strict sanctions against Iran.

These countries include the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Canada, France, Italy, India, Australia, Argentina, Paraguay, Ukraine, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Croatia, Finland, Cyprus, Iceland, Latvia, Greece, Estonia, Portugal, Belgium, Slovakia, Spain, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Malta, Lithuania, Ireland, Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Mozambique, Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, and Switzerland.

Our letter also urges these countries to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.

Our letter states:

There can be no doubt that Iran has funded and is funding terror across the globe, but nowhere as evident as Israel. Although Israel defends its civilian population and territorial integrity from terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and elsewhere, former Israeli Prime Minister Bennett was correct in stating that the head of this “octopus of terror” lies in Iran. However, Iran has now directly acted on its expressed intent to destroy Israel by personally launching over three hundred drones and cruise and ballistic missiles at Israel.

It further states:

It is well known that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “trains, funds, arms, and shares intelligence with dangerous proxy forces throughout the Middle East and abroad.” A network of these terrorist organisations—Hezbollah, Kata’ib Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the Houthis—is spread across several countries. All of them are actively engaged in an armed conflict with Israel, continuously and indiscriminately attacking Israeli civilian population centres. Since 7 October 2023, with continued Iranian funding and support, these terrorist organisations have renewed their unprovoked attacks against Israel.

Our letter also highlights genocidal statements made by Iranian officials against Israel and the IRGC’s illegal actions around the world. We also explained that the United States designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization in 2019 and has imposed different levels of sanctions on Iran over the years and that the European Parliament is also considering designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization.

We further emphasized that sanctioning Iran is not a new concept, but it is an effective one. Many states have sanctioned Iran over the years for a myriad of reasons, and, in fact, the E.U. and U.S. are currently considering adding more sanctions regarding Iran’s attack on Israel.

Additionally, the U.N. Security Council also condemns terrorist attacks, reaffirms the inherent right to self-defense, and requires that all Member States “prevent and suppress the financing of terrorist acts,” as well as freeze funds and other financial assets or economic resources to anyone who participates in or facilitates terrorist acts.

We have reminded these countries that until Iran faces such measures, it will continue to support acts of terrorism not only in the Middle East but around the world.