Over just two days in January 2026, the regime’s security and military forces targeted demonstrators across multiple cities. Numerous independent bodies have identified the IRGC as the regime’s primary instrument for organized, systematic violence. The debate over listing the IRGC stems directly from this combination of domestic repression and transnational militancy. In another part of his remarks, Baghaei implicitly threatened European states, warning that placing the IRGC on terrorist lists would have repercussions for them. Now that the prospect of listing the IRGC is being taken more seriously, Tehran’s diplomatic rhetoric has visibly hardened.