The European Council has formally decided to add the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) of Iran to the European Union's terrorist list, according to a statement released on Thursday.
The decision was made following a political agreement reached by the bloc's Foreign Affairs Council on Jan 29.
In a post on social media platform X on Jan 29, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said EU foreign ministers had taken the "decisive" step of designating IRGC as a terrorist organization.
Following the listing, the IRGC will be subject to restrictive measures under the EU counterterrorism sanctions regime, including the freezing of its funds and other financial assets or economic resources in EU member states, and the prohibition for EU operators to make funds and economic resources available to the group.
With the latest decision, there are now 13 persons and 23 groups and entities subject to restrictive measures under the EU terrorist list.
European Council designates Islamic Revolution Guards Corps as terrorist organization
China's Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country's northwest on Sunday, sending three astronauts to its orbiting space station.
The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, lifted off from the launch site at 23:08 Beijing Time (15:08 GMT).
The crew members consist of mission commander Zhu Yangzhu, and fellow astronauts Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, who is also the first astronaut from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
In another notable first, one of the crew members is set to undertake a year-long stay aboard the space station, double the usual duration of previous Shenzhou missions.
After entering orbit, the Shenzhou-23 spaceship will perform a fast automated rendezvous and docking with the radial port of the space station core module Tianhe, forming a combination of three modules and three spacecraft.
Shenzhou-23 marks the 40th flight of China's manned spaceflight program and the seventh manned flight mission since the Tiangong space station entered its application and development phase in late 2022.
China launches Shenzhou-23 manned spaceship
