Iran fortifies military sites, EU adds IRGC to terrorist list

The European Union added Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to its terrorist list on Thursday, after a political agreement by EU foreign ministers last month. The decision means the IRGC will face asset freezes in EU member states and a ban on EU individuals and companies making funds or economic resources available to the group.  The move falls under the bloc’s counterterrorism sanctions regime. Following the decision, 13 individuals and 23 groups and entities are now subject to measures under the EU terrorist list. The EU terrorist list is separate from the bloc’s regime that implements UN Security Council sanctions targeting Al-Qaida and ISIL.
Meanwhile,the United States is weighing options to target Iranian political and military leaders as well as nuclear and ballistic missile facilities, as it assembles its largest concentration of air power in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq invasion, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The military buildup includes F-35 and F-22 fighter jets, additional command-and-control aircraft, strengthened air defenses and a second aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, enabling what officials described as the capacity for a sustained, weeks-long campaign.
Satellite images have shown that Iran has built a concrete shield over a new facility at a sensitive military site, which has also been covered by soil.The reconstruction appears designed to address weaknesses exposed during the brief war, when Israeli strikes targeted Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure and Tehran responded with missiles and drones.