EU ministers approve new Iran sanctions after Tehran's crackdown on protests, EU diplomats say

BRUSSELS, Jan 29 (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers adopted new sanctions on Iran on Thursday targeting individuals and entities involved in a violent crackdown on protesters and in the country's support to Russia, EU diplomats said on Thursday.

The ministers are also expected to reach a political agreement to include Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the bloc's list of terrorist organisations, putting the IRGC in a category similar to that of Islamic State and al Qaeda and marking a symbolic shift in Europe's approach to Iran's leadership.

Some EU members, led by France, have long been reluctant to add the IRGC to that list, but Paris said on Wednesday it would support the move, paving the way for an approval, even though such a decision needs unanimity among the bloc's 27 members.

The IRGC, set up after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Shi'ite clerical ruling system, has great sway in the country, controlling swathes of the economy and armed forces, and it was also put in charge of Iran's ballistic missile and nuclear programmes.

Reporting by Lili Bayer, editing by Inti Landauro, Benoit Van Overstraeten and Hugh Lawson