US places IRGC on list of terrorist groups
The Trump administration designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization on Monday, April 9. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a news conference: "The IRGC has the blood of American soldiers on its hands."
The United States government has designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organization. US President Donald Trump announced the news in Washington on Monday, March 8. According to him, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is now on the blacklist of terrorist organizations.
US President Donald Trump, announcing the news at the White House, said that the IRGC's inclusion on the blacklist of terrorist groups means that the IRGC "actively" uses, supports, and finances terrorism as an "instrument of state policy."
This is the first time that the United States has designated part of a government and an official military organization as a terrorist group.
The US Congress now has a week to review this decision. If Congress does not oppose the US President's decision, the decision will be implemented.
Donald Trump said: "This is the first time that the United States has designated another part of the government on the State Department's terrorist list. This action reflects the fact that Iran's performance is fundamentally different from other countries."
The US President added: "This decision is a clear message to Tehran that its support for terrorism will have serious consequences. We will continue to apply financial pressure and increase costs to the Iranian regime because of its support for terrorist acts, and until the regime ceases its rebellious and malign behavior."
Designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization would allow the United States to impose additional sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Donald Trump said in this regard: "This decision reveals the dangers of doing business with the Revolutionary Guard. If you do business with the Revolutionary Guard, you are financing terrorism."
Initial reactions
In initial reactions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the US move to list the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization.
Bahrain has also welcomed this US move.
On the other hand, Iran's Supreme National Security Council issued a statement declaring that "the United States regime considers the US Central Command, known as CENTCOM, and all its affiliated forces to be terrorist groups."
Previously, Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic, had called for retaliation and calling the US military in West Asia terrorists.
Zarif also participated in a public meeting of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Parliament on Monday, April 8, and announced that he had sent a note of protest to the Swiss Embassy regarding the US placing the Revolutionary Guard Corps on the list of terrorist groups.
According to the Khaneh Mellat website, Ali Najafi Khoshroudi, a representative of the people of Babol, said regarding the Foreign Minister's presence in the parliament: "The Foreign Minister, referring to the US announcement of including the Revolutionary Guard Corps in the list of terrorist groups, condemned this action and emphasized that such an action creates many dangers. Although the Islamic Republic of Iran has not and does not seek tension, if the US makes such a decision, the Islamic Republic of Iran will also reciprocate."
Calling the US military a terrorist plot
Heshmatullah Falahatpisheh, head of the National Security Commission of the Parliament, also said: "In less than a few hours, American soldiers in the region will be listed as terrorist groups alongside ISIS."
He said: "The first method of taking retaliatory action against the United States is to implement the law approved by the parliament regarding reciprocal and proportionate action against the US policy. If the entire spirit of this law in this regard is met by the parliament, there is no need for a two-pronged bill in the parliament, but otherwise we will approve the two-pronged bill in the parliament tomorrow."
Previously, IRGC commanders had warned that if the IRGC were to be listed as a terrorist organization, it would have serious consequences for American forces, especially in West Asia.
At the same time, members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly announced a plan that, if the Revolutionary Guard Corps is declared a terrorist organization, they will pass a law according to which Iran will also consider the US military a terrorist organization.
Accusations against the IRGC: Suppression of the people, support for terrorism
Following the release of Donald Trump's statement, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a press conference: "The blood of American soldiers is on the hands of the IRGC."
Pompeo accused the IRGC and the Iranian government of carrying out terrorist acts around the world, saying, "Members of the IRGC are not revolutionaries, but thieves and corrupt officials who have abused their power."
Brian Hook, the head of the US State Department's Iran Task Force, who was also present at the press conference, said: "The IRGC plays an effective role in suppressing the Iranian people, and this decision will reduce the repression against the Iranian people."
Hook also said: "The IRGC is the powerful arm of the Iranian regime. The IRGC accounts for half of Iran's economy, and we are telling the world what the problems are with dealing with the IRGC."
The US had previously sanctioned a large number of senior IRGC commanders, companies affiliated with the institution, and the Quds Force, the IRGC's overseas branch, but now the entire organization is considered a terrorist organization and its members and associates will be treated as accomplices to terrorist activities.
Brian Hook said that since its inception, the Corps has had a history of threatening American soldiers and jeopardizing their safety.
Hook accused the Islamic Republic regime of training terrorist groups in the region, adding that the Revolutionary Guard Corps is the implementer of these policies in the region.
In a message to Iranians on Nowruz 2018, Donald Trump, while congratulating them on the New Year, strongly criticized the Revolutionary Guard Corps, calling it a "hostile force" that, according to him, suppresses the Iranian people and plunders their property to support terrorism abroad.
The US State Department has so far blacklisted about 60 groups and organizations from different countries, including the Al-Qaeda network, the Islamic State group (ISIS), Lebanon's Hezbollah, and some Palestinian groups such as Hamas, as "foreign terrorist organizations."
Threat to US bases in the region
Iranian officials and military commanders have threatened the United States with “retaliatory action” in recent years whenever there has been any talk of the IRGC being placed on a list of terrorist groups. These threats have been repeated in the past few days.
In July 2017, when the issue of declaring the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization and sanctioning it was raised in the US Senate, the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guard threatened that if Washington intended to sanction this institution, it would have to dismantle its bases within a thousand kilometers of Iran.
A few months later, Jafari said: "If the scattered news about the US government's stupidity in considering the IRGC as a terrorist group is true, the IRGC will also consider the US army to be equal to ISIS throughout the world, especially in the Middle East."
The commander-in-chief of the IRGC, a day before the US officially declared the IRGC a terrorist organization, called the move "stupid" and said: "In such circumstances, the US army and security forces in the West Asian region will not enjoy the peace they have today."
On Sunday, Falahatpisheh announced the preparation of a two-step plan for a "reciprocal response" to the United States, telling ISNA news agency, "Given that the United States wants to put the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the list of terrorist groups, we have prepared a two-step plan that, as soon as this happens, we will declare the American military on the list of terrorist groups alongside ISIS."
The Revolutionary Guard Corps plays the role of a parallel government in Iran, and its role has even been criticized by former and current presidents Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hassan Rouhani.
According to some estimates, the IRGC controls a very large part of the Iranian economy. IRGC-affiliated companies are the largest contractors for major projects in all fields and control a large volume of petrochemical exports and imports of goods.
With the IRGC being placed on the US list of terrorist groups, the assets of officials and companies affiliated with this institution outside of Iran will be blocked, and the IRGC members will face serious restrictions and risks when traveling abroad.
Source: DW
