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State Dept Designates Four Antifa-Linked Groups in Europe as Foreign Terrorist Organizations in Landmark Move

By: Fern Sidman

In a move that senior officials have described as both historic and unprecedented, the U.S. State Department will formally designate four Antifa-linked groups operating in Europe as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specifically Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), according to an exclusive report on Thursday at Fox News Digital.

The decision represents the first time in U.S. history that Washington has applied terrorism designations to entities associated with the far-left Antifa movement, placing them in the same legal category as ISIS, al-Qaeda, and Hezbollah.

As Fox News Digital reported, the designation expands President Donald Trump’s earlier domestic directive on Antifa into the international sphere, effectively transforming a long-running domestic counter-extremism campaign into a global security initiative.

Under the designations, U.S. financial institutions will be required to freeze any assets linked to the groups, while U.S. law enforcement will be authorized to prosecute anyone under American jurisdiction who provides material support to them. Members or affiliates of the designated organizations will also be barred from entering the United States.

According to the information provided in the Fox News Digital report, the State Department’s decision follows months of joint investigations between American intelligence agencies and European partners, which concluded that the targeted Antifa-aligned groups were involved in “sustained campaigns of politically motivated violence,” including bombings, shootings, and assaults.

Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott told Fox News Digital that the decision reflects the United States’ deepening concern over “a transnational network of anarchists, Marxists, and violent extremists who have waged a terror campaign across the Western world.”

“The anarchists, Marxists, and violent extremists of Antifa have waged a terror campaign in the United States and across the Western world for decades, carrying out bombings, beatings, shootings, and riots in service of their extreme agenda,” Pigott said. “The State Department is committed to identifying and dismantling these terror networks that conspire to ruthlessly suppress the will of the people and violently undermine the very foundations of the United States and Western civilization.”

As the Fox News Digital report noted, this policy shift signals that Washington now views Antifa-linked groups not merely as ideological disruptors or domestic agitators, but as actors within a global web of political violence.

According to details obtained by Fox News Digital, the four groups designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specifically Designated Global Terrorists are based in Germany, Italy, and Greece — countries that have long grappled with violent far-left extremism under the banner of anti-capitalist and anti-state movements.

1. Antifa Ost (Germany)

Perhaps the most prominent of the newly designated groups is Antifa Ost, a radical left-wing cell operating primarily in eastern Germany.

German prosecutors, cited in the Fox News Digital report, have charged seven individuals linked to the group with a series of violent assaults and attempted bombings between 2018 and 2023. In 2023, members were implicated in coordinated attacks using hammers, batons, and pepper spray against perceived political opponents during violent demonstrations in Budapest, leading the Hungarian government to designate the organization as a terrorist entity in September 2025.

The group’s ideology, according to European investigators, blends militant antifascism with anarchist and Marxist revolutionary theory — viewing violence as a legitimate instrument of political resistance.

2. The International Revolutionary Front (Italy)

Also known as the Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), this Italy-based coalition is one of the oldest and most dangerous far-left extremist networks in Europe.

As the Fox News Digital report detailed, the group has been linked to dozens of violent incidents over the past two decades, including letter bomb attacks on government and corporate offices, small explosive devices detonated at industrial sites, and even targeted shootings, such as the 2012 attempted assassination of a nuclear engineering executive.

The organization is structured as a loose federation of autonomous cells operating under a shared manifesto advocating “armed revolutionary struggle against capitalist states.” It has previously expressed solidarity with insurgent movements in Latin America and the Middle East, aligning itself ideologically with “global anti-imperialist resistance.”

Italian counterterrorism officials told Fox News Digital that the FAI’s inclusion on the State Department’s terror list “marks a long-overdue recognition of the group’s sustained campaign of political violence and its international influence.”

3. Armed Proletarian Justice (Greece)

The Armed Proletarian Justice group, based in Greece, has for years been a focal point of the country’s ongoing struggle against leftist urban terrorism.

The group’s attacks, according to the Fox News Digital report, have targeted Greek government ministries, political party headquarters, and foreign embassies. Their stated mission is to “avenge capitalist exploitation and state repression through revolutionary violence.”

Greek authorities estimate that the group emerged from the remnants of older militant organizations that operated during the late 20th century, drawing inspiration from both Marxist-Leninist movements and modern anarchist networks.

4. Revolutionary Class Self Defense (Greece)

Another Greek organization, Revolutionary Class Self Defense, has carried out multiple bombings across Athens, including a recent attack on the headquarters of Hellenic Railways in April. The group publicly dedicated the bombing to “the Palestinian people and their heroic resistance”, a statement that Israeli security analysts described to Fox News Digital as a “disturbing sign of ideological cross-pollination between Western anarchist groups and Middle Eastern terror organizations.”

The State Department’s designation of both Greek groups underscores what Fox News Digital characterized as a “new, integrated strategy” to address the intersection between far-left extremism in Europe and global anti-Western militancy.

As the Fox News Digital report emphasized, the move represents a rare use of foreign terrorism sanctions against left-wing extremist groups. Traditionally, such designations have been reserved for jihadist or ethnonationalist organizations.

European governments, particularly Germany and Italy, have typically treated far-left militancy as a domestic security problem rather than an international one, preferring law enforcement and judicial measures over counterterrorism frameworks. The U.S. designation therefore marks a fundamental shift — framing far-left extremist groups as transnational actors capable of destabilizing Western democracies.

“This is a recognition that Antifa-linked groups abroad share not only tactics but ideology, funding networks, and communication channels with violent groups in the United States,” a senior U.S. counterterrorism official told Fox News Digital. “They are not isolated anarchists — they are part of an international movement dedicated to undermining Western institutions.”

The designation also enables the U.S. Treasury Department and FBI to collaborate with European counterparts in tracking financial flows, donations, and cryptocurrencies linked to these groups, expanding the scope of the global war on political extremism.

Reaction in Washington has been swift and largely supportive among national security hawks.

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), who advocated for the designations alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, praised the administration for taking decisive action. “I’m grateful to Secretary Rubio and the Trump administration for working with me on this critical issue,” Schmitt said in remarks to Fox News Digital. “Holding these radical groups who enable, fund, and support political violence in the United States and across the world accountable is essential for protecting freedom and democracy.”

Schmitt’s statement echoes what the Fox News Digital report described as “a growing bipartisan consensus” that ideological extremism — whether Islamist, nationalist, or Marxist — must be addressed with equal determination.

Foreign governments, however, have responded cautiously. German and Italian officials told Fox News Digital they are “reviewing the implications” of the designations, while Greece’s Ministry of Public Order welcomed the move as “a necessary step toward coordinating international responses to violent anarchism.”

As the Fox News Digital report observed, the decision to classify Antifa-linked organizations alongside globally recognized terror entities such as Hezbollah and ISIS represents a symbolic watershed in the evolution of U.S. counterterrorism policy.

For decades, Antifa and related movements have operated in a gray zone — often dismissed by Western governments as fringe protest movements rather than organized violent actors. Yet, as their activities grew more violent and globally networked, the intelligence consensus shifted.

“This designation sends an unmistakable message,” said a senior State Department source to Fox News Digital. “Political violence under the banner of any ideology — left or right — will be treated as terrorism, not activism.”

The step also underscores the Trump administration’s broader doctrine of ideological parity in combating extremism, applying the same legal and diplomatic tools used against jihadist or right-wing terror groups to radical leftist networks.

The State Department’s action marks a defining moment in the fight against global extremism, bridging the divide between domestic and international counterterror frameworks.

By designating these Antifa-linked European networks as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specifically Designated Global Terrorists, the U.S. has effectively redefined the contours of the global war on terror, affirming that the threat to Western democracy can emanate from any ideological direction.

As the Fox News Digital report indicated, the message from Washington is unambiguous: “No ideology grants immunity from accountability. Those who seek to subvert liberty through violence — whether in the name of religion, nationalism, or revolution — will be met with the full force of American law.”