On the 27th of November 2025 the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was listed as a state sponsor of terrorism under the Criminal Code.
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (the Committee) has commenced a review into the listing.
Subsection 110.7(2) of the Criminal Code provides that the Committee may review a regulation which lists an organisation as a state sponsor of terrorism at any time and report its comments and recommendations to each House of the Parliament. The Committee aims to report before the end of the applicable disallowance period for each regulation. The disallowance period is 15 sitting days from the day the regulation is tabled in each House.
For an organisation to be listed as a state sponsor of terrorism under the Criminal Code, the AFP Minister must be satisfied on reasonable grounds that the organisation meets the following legislative criteria:
- the entity is a foreign state entity: and
- the entity, or a member of the entity, has:
- directly or indirectly engaged in, prepared, planned, assisted in or fostered the doing of a terrorist act that was targeted at Australia; or
- advocated the doing of a terrorist act that was targeted at Australia.
The AFP Minister must also obtain the Foreign Affairs Minister’s agreement in writing to the entity being specified as a state sponsor of terrorism and arrange for the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives to be briefed in relation to the proposed regulation.
The specification of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a state sponsor of terrorism enlivens certain offences under the Criminal Code. These include offences for dealing with or financing a state sponsor of terrorism, and offences for activities related to state terrorist acts and other terrorist acts connected with state sponsors of terrorism.
Details of the listing can be found at the following link:
The Committee invites written submissions to the inquiry by 23 January 2026. Further information about making a submission to a parliamentary committee is available here.