France, Jan. 29 -- European Union foreign ministers on Thursday agreed to the move targeting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Human rights groups estimate that security forces have killed thousands of protesters during unrest in Iran in December and January. Demonstrations began on 28 December over rising living costs and quickly spread nationwide.

"Repression cannot go unanswered," the bloc's top diplomat Kaja Kallas posted on social media. "Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise."

Kallas said that the designation would place the Revolutionary Guard on the same footing as groups such as al-Qaeda, Hamas and Daesh, the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

"If you act as a terrori...