New Delhi, Jan. 30 -- The European Union agreed Thursday to list Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization over Tehran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests, the bloc's top diplomat said, in a largely symbolic move that adds to pressure on the Islamic Republic.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said foreign ministers in the 27-nation bloc unanimously agreed on the designation, which she said will put the regime "on the same footing" with al-Qaida, Hamas and the Islamic State group.

"Those who operate through terror must be treated as terrorists," Kallas said.

Economic woes sparked the protests before they broadened into a challenge to the theocracy before the crackdown, which activists say has ki...