Iranian lawmakers chanted “Death to America! Death to Israel!” while dressed in the uniforms of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during a Sunday parliamentary session, according to footage broadcast by state-linked media.
Chants against both the United States and the Jewish state took place during a parliamentary session in Tehran, where Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf led legislators in slogans following a vote to designate the armed forces of European Union member states as “terrorist groups” in retaliation for the EU’s decision on Thursday to blacklist the IRGC, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
The coordinated display, broadcast Sunday, marked a unified public allegiance to the IRGC by Iran’s top elected officials.
During the session, an IRGC flag was raised and a banner reading “The Revolutionary Guard is the largest ‘anti-terrorism’ organization in the world” was displayed at the Speaker’s podium, as shown in video footage from the chamber.
“I hereby declare that, according to Article 7 of the Retaliatory Action Law, in response to the declaration of the IRGC as a terrorist organization, the armies of European countries are 1769997950 considered terrorist groups and the consequences of this action will be the responsibility of the European Union,” Ghalibaf declared.
Ghalibaf accused European governments of acting “through blind obedience to the Americans,” saying they had “once again decided against the interests of their own people” by moving against the IRGC.
The Iranian move followed a European Union decision announced Thursday by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, citing Tehran’s violent crackdown on nationwide protests and warning that repression could not “go unanswered.”
“Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise,” Kallas wrote on social media, as the designation enabled visa bans and asset freezes targeting Iranian officials and entities linked to internal repression after prolonged deliberations within the bloc.
Founded after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is a parallel military force separate from Iran’s regular armed forces that answers directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and is tasked with safeguarding the Islamic Republic; wielding sweeping political, economic, and military power while overseeing the country’s missile and nuclear programs; and backing proxy militias responsible for widespread regional terrorism.
The U.S. designated the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization in 2019 under President Trump — the first time part of another nation’s military received the designation — a move announced by the State Department that has since prompted calls for broader international adoption amid continued attacks by Iran-backed proxies on U.S. forces and allies.
“Death to America” has long been a staple of Iranian regime propaganda, but its revival inside parliament — led by uniformed officials — signals a renewed embrace of confrontation and a regime emboldened to project IRGC-driven power at home and abroad amid perceived Western weakness.
In June, Iranian officials chanted “Death to America” as they voted to expel nuclear inspectors and accelerate uranium enrichment following President Trump’s strike on Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure — a move that helped force a ceasefire and avert a prolonged regional war.
The following month, an IRGC propaganda video explicitly targeted President Trump by name, explaining that the regime’s “Death to America” chant now specifically means “death to Trump,” directly contradicting claims by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi that the slogan refers only to U.S. policies rather than individuals.
The IRGC has previously produced propaganda videos threatening American officials, including elaborate animations depicting the assassination of Trump and other senior defense officials in retaliation for the 2020 killing of Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of the IRGC’s elite Quds Force.
The current escalation comes amid Iran’s sweeping mass-arrest campaign to crush renewed nationwide protests and as U.S. intelligence assessments describe the regime’s grip on power as historically weak following last year’s strikes and internal unrest.
The parliamentary display also coincided with remarks Sunday by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who warned that any U.S. attack on Iran would trigger a wider regional war and dismissed American military deployments and vowed that Tehran would deliver a “strong punch” against anyone who strikes the Islamic Republic.
Iranian officials have warned that any U.S. strike — particularly one targeting leadership — would trigger immediate retaliation across the region, including against Israel, even as Tehran signals it will no longer telegraph its responses.
With reports asserting that military action is no longer a matter of if but when, and with U.S. forces visibly positioned, regional allies warned, and diplomatic off-ramps narrowing, the Trump administration appears to be approaching a decisive inflection point.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jklein@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
