The State Department has designated two Greek groups accused of ties to the loose knit movement known as Antifa as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), marking the first time the United States has applied these sanctions to foreign based groups linked to Antifa.

The groups, which operate under the names Armed Proletarian Justice and Revolutionary Class Self Defense, were included in a broader State Department action that added four organizations based in Germany, Italy and Greece to the terrorism lists.

The designations place them in the same legal category as the Islamic State, Al Qaeda and Hezbollah, a move that sharply escalates the United States approach to far-left extremist violence abroad.

According to the State Department, the European based cells have carried out bombings, shootings and other politically motivated attacks. U.S. officials argue that their activities amount to a coordinated campaign of violent extremism that crosses national borders.

In its announcement, the State Department released a written statement from principal deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott.

In its announcement, the State Department included a written statement from its principal deputy spokesperson, Tommy Pigott. “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.”

The designations require U.S. financial institutions to freeze any assets linked to the groups and bar their members from entering the country. They also authorize criminal prosecution of individuals in the United States who provide funding or other material assistance.

Senator Eric Schmidt, Republican of Missouri, who urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to impose the sanctions, welcomed the decision and called it an overdue response to what he described as an overlooked source of extremist violence.

The move reflects a notable shift. European governments have typically viewed far-left militant groups as domestic security issues rather than international terrorist organizations. By treating them as a foreign terrorism threat, the United States has signaled a willingness to expand its counterterrorism tools to groups it sees as part of a broader pattern of political violence on the far left.