Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
The Guard is designated as a terrorist organisation by the EU.
In March, when Donald Trump asked European countries to participate in a global effort to deploy ships to open the Strait of Hormuz, the reaction from Europe was very clear.
As the German Defense Minister Borius Pistorius put the European thoughts on aiding Trump: “It’s not our war.”
Even though she did not use the same words, the same message came from EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, when she said that “nobody is ready to put their people in harm’s was in the Strait of Hormuz.”
However, the European Union is actually actively fighting Iran – or at least Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
But it’s on the digital battleground.
A massive digital sweep
European police just coordinated a major strike against online propaganda. According to Europol, investigators flagged and targeted more than 14,200 posts tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The European Union officially labeled the military group a terrorist organization in February. That legal ruling finally gave police the green light to hunt down its vast digital footprint, and the operation was led by Europol’s EU Internet Referral Unit (EU IRU).
Between February and April, 19 different countries joined forces. The large coalition included the United States, Ukraine, and several European nations working closely together.
They simply wanted to find out exactly how the network spread its messages, recruited new followers, and raised money across the globe.
Spreading the message
The illegal content lived absolutely everywhere. Investigators uncovered material hiding on mainstream social networks, independent web blogs, and popular video streaming sites.
It was not limited to one specific region. Europol stated that the banned propaganda appeared in English, French, Spanish, Persian, and Arabic.
Some modern videos even used artificial intelligence to glorify the military group. Other posts mixed extreme religious martyrdom with intense political speeches or violent calls to avenge Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Europol noted that taking down these specific links also hurt the online presence of aligned proxy groups. This secondary damage affected content produced by Hamas, Hezbollah, and several others.
Why it is important
The Iranian regime is known for funding, training and arming networks of militant groups to target Western personnel and diplomatic interests.
Part of the Iranian campaign focuses on recruiting new members online, including possible members living in Western nations.
In March the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism released a report on terrorism risks following the US killing Iran’s Ayatollah, pointing to the risk of individuals seeking to commit terrorist attacks to get revenge on the kill.
To mitigate this threat, dismantling Iranian propaganda online is crucial, and by labelling the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group, European police now has the opportunity to conduct operations like this.
New ways to hide
The coordinated operation hit some major targets right away. The group’s primary account on X was gquickly blocked across the entire European Union. It previously had more than 150,000 followers.
Thousands of other digital links simply vanished from the internet.
However, the targeted group clearly knows exactly how to adapt to international pressure. Europol reported that the network heavily relies on web hosting providers scattered from Russia to America.
Investigators also noticed a deliberate and quiet shift in how the network handles its daily financial operations. To successfully avoid traditional banks, the group increasingly uses cryptocurrency transactions to fund its digital campaigns.
Sources: Europol, Reuters, NewsEU
