Netherlands to Join EU Push to Blacklist IRGC as New Report Reveals Iranian Weapons Smuggling to Houthis

The Netherlands will join Germany’s initiative to push the European Union to declare Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organization, according to Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.

The revelation came as the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) released a new report detailing how the IRGC has been smuggling weapons to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, a US-designated terrorist group that has been disrupting global trade with its attacks on shipping in the busy Red Sea corridor.

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp “announced that the Netherlands will join the initiative to promote a decision in the EU to declare the IRGC a terrorist organization,” Katz tweeted on Wednesday. “We will continue to join hands in our fight against terror.”

Katz included a photo of the two diplomats meeting at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) summit in Washington, DC this week.

The foreign ministers also discussed “the situation in Gaza, the West Bank, Hezbollah, and Iran,” according to Veldkamp.

Last week, the EU reportedly accepted Germany’s request to consider labeling the IRGC a terrorist organization.

Denmark, Sweden, and the Czech Republic also agreed to support Germany’s initiative to blacklist the IRGC, according to reports.

Consequences of the EU designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization could include the freezing of its financial assets, criminal prosecutions for ranking members, travel bans, and bans on arms shipments across EU countries.

By blacklisting the IRGC, the EU would join a growing list of nations who view the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Last month, Canada announced that it would list the IRGC as a terrorist group.

“Listing the IRGC builds on the government of Canada’s broader efforts to ensure that there is no impunity for Iran’s unlawful actions and its support of terrorism,” Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc said in a statement.

In 2019, the Trump administration in the US designated the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization, highlighting the Iranian regime’s use of the IRGC to “engage in terrorist activities since its inception 40 years ago.”

The US designation “recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a state sponsor of terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft,” then-US President Donald Trump said in a statement at the time. “The IRGC is the Iranian government’s primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign.”

The US government further detailed the IRGC’s activities across the Middle East on Wednesday, when the DIA released a new report highlighting how the IRGC has been “smuggling weapons and weapons components to the Houthis.”

The report noted that the Houthis used IRGC-supplied ballistic and cruise missiles to conduct over a hundred land attacks on Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and within Yemen, as well as dozens of attacks on merchant shipping. 

Since 2015, there have been over 20 successful interdictions against Iranian smuggling operations by coalition partners including the US, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and France. 

According to the DIA’s report, coalition partners seized hundreds of illicit arms and material including rocket engines used in missiles, guidance systems, light arms, explosives, cruise missiles, surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), and anti-tank missiles. The report documented how the Houthis have deployed these types of Iranian-produced arms in strikes against merchant shipping and US allies.

Recently, the Houthis launched their longest-range attack to date against a Liberian-flagged ship transiting the Bab el-Mandeb strait near the Arabian Sea. Although none of ship’s crew were injured and the ship itself was unharmed, the attack highlighted the increasing capabilities of the Iranian-supported Houthi rebels.

The US and Britain returned the Houthi militia to a list of terrorist groups this year as its attacks on vessels in and around the Red Sea, a key trade route, disrupted global shipping, raising the cost of shipping and insurance and having a major economic impact. Shipping firms have been forced in many cases to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa to avoid passing near Yemen.

The rebel Houthi movement — whose slogan is “death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory to Islam” — has also claimed responsibility for attempted drone and missile strikes targeting Israel.

Since Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, which launched the ongoing war in Gaza, Houthi terrorists in Yemen have routinely launched ballistic missiles towards Israel’s southern city of Eilat. Each missile attack was quickly intercepted by Israel using its air defense systems.

In May, Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi said the terrorist group will target all ships heading to Israeli ports, even if they do not pass through the Red Sea

In January, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised the Houthi attacks on Israel and regional shipping. “We hope, God willing, these efforts, acts of resistance, and activities will continue until victory,” he said, adding that the Houthis “have truly done a great job.”

Beyond Israeli targets, the Houthis have threatened and in some cases actually attacked US and British ships, leading the two Western allies to launch retaliatory strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

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