Iran designates Argentine Navy and Air Force as terrorist organizations in reciprocal move

Tehran's designation

Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, 11 November 2026, that the Islamic Republic has designated the Argentine Navy and the Argentine Air Force as terrorist organizations. The ministry presented the step as a reciprocal measure answering Argentina's earlier decision to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization. The announcement came in a ministry communiqué, and Reuters confirmed it. The statement makes no mention of the Argentine Army.

Reciprocity and the 2019 law

The ministry based its decision on the principle of reciprocity and on a law on reciprocal measures, which Iran says was adopted after the United States designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Under that law, according to the ministry, countries that comply with or back the US decision are subject to reciprocal measures. Iran described Argentina's move as a hostile act that violates fundamental principles of international law. The ministry added that the Argentine government will bear responsibility for all consequences of the measure, without giving further details.

Argentina's original listing

Argentina designated the IRGC through a presidential decree, citing official reports on illicit transnational activity, including terrorism on Argentine soil. Buenos Aires tied the Guard to the 1992 attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community centre, which killed 85 people and wounded hundreds. Argentine authorities accuse the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in the 1994 bombing, and Czech outlet Aktualne.cz reports that the Guard supports Hezbollah. Sources date the Argentine listing to late March or April 2026, with one citing a designation on 31 March published in the Official Gazette on 6 April. Argentina had already placed the Quds Force, an elite special forces unit of the Guard, on its list of terrorist organizations in January, according to Notícias ao Minuto.

A wider pattern

In early November, Tehran also labelled Britain's MI6 a 'hostile group' and designated the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force as terrorist organizations, according to Notícias ao Minuto. That move followed a British government announcement in mid-July of legislation designating the IRGC as a threat to national security. The IRGC's ground, air and naval forces together number roughly 190,000 personnel, according to an estimate by the US Council on Foreign Relations. Iran's latest designation extends the dispute between Tehran and Western governments to another country's armed forces, with the Argentine navy and air force now covered by the Iranian measure.