Israel Welcomes U.S. Decision on Revolutionary Guards
According to Naftali Bennett, the Israeli prime minister, the U.S. president has assured him that the Revolutionary Guards will not be removed from the list of terrorist organizations. The Islamic Republic’s insistence on delisting the Guards apparently is one of the reasons for the suspension of nuclear deal revival negotiations.
Naftali Bennett, Israel’s prime minister, says he welcomes the United States government’s decision to keep the Revolutionary Guards on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations.
According to Xinhua News Agency, Bennett said on the evening of Tuesday, June 24, in a statement that the U.S. president’s decision to keep the Guards on the terrorist list is “right, moral, and defensible.”
Donald Trump, the former U.S. president, signed an executive order in 2019, one year after the United States withdrew from the nuclear agreement, adding the Revolutionary Guards to the list of foreign terrorist organizations.
It is said that the Islamic Republic’s insistence on delisting the Guards from this list is one of the important points of contention between Iran and the United States and one of the main reasons for the failure of nuclear deal revival negotiations in Vienna.
Praise for Biden, “Israel’s True Friend”
Naftali Bennett, in a tweet, thanked Joe Biden for this decision and called him “a true friend of the State of Israel,” adding that the proper place for the Guards is on the terrorist list.
Israel’s prime minister said Biden informed him of this decision one month ago in a telephone conversation. In late March, when Vienna negotiations stalled without results, rumors emerged about the possibility of delisting the Guards from the terrorist list, and Israel strongly opposed the move.
Bennett described the Revolutionary Guards as the world’s largest terrorist organization and the main factor in Middle Eastern instability. The Israeli military has repeatedly bombed positions in Syria that are said to house or store the Guards’ weapons or facilities of Iran-backed groups.
Continued Mediation for Nuclear Deal Revival
Ned Price, the U.S. State Department spokesperson, recently described some of Iran’s demands beyond the nuclear agreement as obstacles to reaching an accord in Vienna, saying that Tehran must address Washington’s concerns beyond the agreement for these demands to be met.
Many observers interpreted these remarks as suggesting the possibility of delisting the Guards from the terrorist list in exchange for commitments from the Islamic Republic to cease its regional activities.
The possible delisting of the Guards from the list of terrorist organizations has faced strong opposition in the U.S. Congress, with some Democratic representatives also joining the opposition.
Despite Biden’s decision to keep the Guards on the terrorist list, apparently some countries, particularly Qatar and Oman, are trying to mediate between Iran and the United States to break the deadlock in nuclear deal revival negotiations.
Source: DW
