Washington, DC – The US State Department strongly welcomed Australia’s recent move to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization. It reiterated that Iran remains the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.
In a statement posted on its Persian-language page on the X platform, the US State Department indicated that Iran, through the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard and its proxy groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, has funded and directed numerous “terrorist activities” and attacks worldwide.
Historic Australian decision after the Sydney attacks
The Australian government announced on November 26, 2025, that it had designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. This marked the first use of its new legal framework for attributing “state terrorism” to a foreign organization.
The Australian decision followed an assessment by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). This assessment indicated the involvement of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in two attacks targeting Jewish centers in Sydney and Melbourne in 2014.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described these attacks as “cowardly.” He planned to designate the IRGC after the revelation of the Islamic Republic’s role in them.
The aim of the resolution: to disrupt Iran’s ability to finance its operations.
The US State Department asserted that Australia’s move “will help disrupt the ability of the Islamic Republic and its proxies to plan terrorist attacks. It will also help raise funds for its destructive and destabilizing activities, including its attacks on Jewish communities around the world.”
Washington, which is exerting “maximum pressure” on Tehran, called on all countries to “hold the Iranian regime accountable and prevent the activities of its proxies, recruiters, and financiers within their territories.” Under the new Australian law, any cooperation with or financial assistance to a state sponsor of terrorism is a crime, punishable by up to 25 years in prison.
It is worth noting that the process of designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization has accelerated in recent years. The United States (2019), Canada (2023), Paraguay (2015), and Ecuador (2015) have already added it to their lists of terrorist organizations. Meanwhile, several European parliaments (such as those of Sweden and Denmark) continue to urge the European Union to take a similar decision.
