Albanese Govt Urged to List Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as Terrorist Organisation

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during a press conference in Sydney, Australia, on July 8, 2022. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Australia’s Coalition is calling on the Albanese government to list the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation following reports that the group targeted Australian organisations with malicious ransomware attacks.

This comes as Britain considers listing Iran’s Revolution Guard as a terrorist organisation after it was revealed that the group had plotted to kidnap and murder people in the UK, reported The Telegraph.

Since 2012, Australia has imposed sanctions on the IRGC under the UN and Australian Autonomous Sanctions (UNSC). A number of IRGC-linked persons and entities are included in these sanctions.

The IRGC is an Iranian Government agency that is tasked with defending the Iranian Regime from perceived internal and external threats.

Additionally, a joint cybersecurity advisory report (pdf) published by the Australian Signals Directory (ASD) in September 2022 found that IRGC-affiliated actors exploited vulnerabilities across multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors as well as Australian, Canadian, and United Kingdom organisations.

These actors then can then leverage this access for further malicious activities, including the deployment of tools to support ransom and extortion operations and data exfiltration.

The ASD said that the scanning and exploitation of server vulnerabilities by the group started in early 2021.

“The authoring agencies assess the actors are exploiting known vulnerabilities on unprotected networks rather than targeting specific targeted entities or sectors,” the report states.

“After gaining access to a network, the IRGC-affiliated actors likely determine a course of action based on their perceived value of the data. Depending on the perceived value, the actors may encrypt data for ransom and/or exfiltrate data. The actors may sell the data or use the exfiltrated data in extortion operations or ‘double extortion’ ransom operations where a threat actor uses a combination of encryption and data theft to pressure targeted entities to pay ransom demands,” the report states.

Coalition’s Message to Albanese Govt

James Paterson, the Shadow Minister for Cyber Security, said that the former Coalition government had targeted cyber offences under its Magnitsky-style Autonomous Sanctions Amendment Act, reported The Australian.

“This serious revelation should require a strong message from the Albanese government, and those tools are already available to them to use,” Paterson said.

Senator James Paterson of the centre-right Liberal Party before a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Sept. 5, 2022. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Policy Analyst at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, Oved Lobel, opined in an op-ed published by The Australian that once Britain designates the IRGC as a terrorist organisation, Germany and the rest of Europe, as well as Canada, will follow suit.

“There is no need or justification for Australia to be the odd one out,” he wrote.

“Listing the IRGC under the Criminal Code would send an important symbolic message to anti-regime Iranians as well as our allies, demonstrating that Australia will no longer lag in condemning or sanctioning the IRGC, as it has to date.”

Coalition Call Joins Australian Greens Push For Stronger Action on Iran

The call from the coalition comes as the federal government is also being pushed by the Australian Greens on the federal government’s response to Iran’s crackdown on freedom protestors.

Australian Greens spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, Peace, and Nuclear Disarmament, Senator Jordon Steele-John, called out the Albanese government over what the Greens say is a lack of concrete actions on the Iranian crackdown.

“Every day, we wake up to the news that more Iranian freedom protestors have been sentenced to death. This must end. The international community must keep putting pressure on Iranian authorities to free those innocent civilians who are subject to fatal penalties because they were crying out for freedom in their country,” Steele-John said.

Western Australian Greens Senator Jordan Steele-John in the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on July 4, 2019. Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images

The Australian Greens want the federal government to do more than the current sanctions that have been put on some Iranian officials.

“The current sanctions do not go far enough and are not as strong as those imposed by other countries, including Canada,” the party said in a media release. “The community is desperately calling for more to be done to show Iranian authorities that these abhorrent acts will not be tolerated.”

Currently, Australia has used its new Magnitsky laws to implement sanctions on 13 individuals and two entities from Iran. These include members of Iran’s Morality Police and the Basij Resistance Force and six Iranian individuals who have been intrinsically involved in the crackdown on protests following the suspicious death of 22-year-old Mahsa ‘Jina’ Amini, who was arrested for allegedly wearing her hijab incorrectly.

Inquiry Into Recent Violence in Iran

In a November 2021 submission by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the department said it had been calling out Iran on its “egregious behaviour.”

“The Government has also mobilised internationally with partners to hold Iran to account for its violent crackdown on people exercising their democratic right to protest at the Iranian Government’s oppression of women and girls,” DFAT said in the submission.

On Sept. 16 2022, 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa (Jina) Amini died following injuries suffered in police custody after she was detained by Iran’s Morality Police for non-compliance of her clothing covering with government standards.

Iranian demonstrators take to the streets of the capital Tehran during a protest for Mahsa Amini on Sept. 21, 2022, five days after the young woman died in custody while under arrest by the country's morality police. AFP via Getty Images

“Tehran police claim that Ms Amini’s death was the result of a heart condition. Other reports suggest Ms Amini was beaten while in custody and died from her injuries,” according to DFAT.

Following Amini’s death, protests began in her hometown of Saqqez before spreading to most of the country’s 31 provinces as many Iranians sought to express their outrage at security force brutality and the Iranian Government’s policies that oppress women and girls.

“Peaceful protest activity has taken many forms including street demonstrations, women and girls removing their hijabs or cutting off their hair, blowing of car horns on the roads, sit-down strikes in schools and universities and use of political graffiti.

“In response to the unrest, Iranian authorities have brutally cracked down on protestors, employing violent measures including the use of lethal force, beatings, mass arrests, and even forcibly sending dissenting students off to psychiatric institutions.

“The Iranian Government has also disrupted cellular services and restricted internet and social media across the country as they have sought to prevent news of events being disseminated domestically and internationally,” DFAT said.

The department said Australia already implements UNSC-mandated sanctions to restrict Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile capability.

Additionally, financial and travel sanctions have been applied to a number of IRGC-linked individuals and financial sanctions against entities.

“Operationally, the Iran sanctions framework encompasses various measures including restrictions on the supply of certain goods or services, requirements to freeze assets of designated persons and entities, and travel bans on designated persons.”

On Jan. 7, the Iranian government executed two men in connection with the protests. Four protesters have been executed since the nationwide demonstrations.

Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong, has been contacted for comment.

Victoria Kelly-Clark contributed to this report.