Reactions to Placing IRGC on List of Terrorist Groups

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council called the U.S. government a “supporter of terrorism” and designated the U.S. military command in West Asia as a “terrorist group.” This action was taken in response to the placement of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations.

Reactions from Iranian officials and institutions to the placement of the IRGC on the U.S. “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” list began even before the formal announcement of this decision by the White House, and continued with greater intensity thereafter.

The Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic Republic, on Monday evening, April 19 (April 8), hours after the official announcement of the U.S. government’s decision regarding the IRGC, issued a statement calling the decision “illegal and dangerous,” stating that the council “considers this baseless action a major threat to regional and international peace and security, and a clear violation of the peremptory rules of international law and the United Nations Charter.”

The statement continued: “The Islamic Republic of Iran, in reciprocal action against America’s illegal and unwise action today, hereby declares the regime of the United States of America a ‘state supporter of terrorism’ and ‘the U.S. Central Command known as CENTCOM’ and all forces affiliated with it as ‘terrorist groups.'”

The Supreme National Security Council stated that the U.S. Central Command is responsible for implementing “terrorist policies of the American government” in the West Asia region, which has endangered the national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the lives of innocent Iranian and non-Iranian individuals to “impose hostile U.S. policies.”

Designating American Military Personnel in the Region as Terrorists

Previously, the Foreign Ministry spokesman had announced that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in response to the IRGC’s placement on the terrorist organizations list, had requested in a letter to the President and the head of the Supreme National Security Council that the names of American military forces in the West Asia region (CENTCOM) be added to the terrorist organizations list from the perspective of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Designating the U.S. military as terrorist is another reciprocal measure that, according to Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Parliament, will be put to a vote as an urgent bill in the Islamic Consultative Assembly.

Falahatpisheh told the ISNA news agency on Sunday, “Given that America wants to place the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the list of terrorist groups, we have prepared an urgent bill that, as soon as this happens, we will declare American military personnel alongside ‘ISIS’ on the list of terrorist groups.”

Along with these measures, the Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC, Mohammad Ali Jafari, also threatened that “under such circumstances, the U.S. Army and security forces in the West Asia region will no longer enjoy today’s peace.”

International Reactions

Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, was among the first regional leaders to react to the White House’s decision. In a Twitter message, while thanking U.S. President Donald Trump for placing the IRGC on the list of terrorist organizations, he wrote to him: “You have once again protected the world from Iran’s hostility and terrorism.” Netanyahu, who faces a sensitive election in Israel on Tuesday, thanked Trump for fulfilling one of his other “important requests.”

According to Reuters news agency, Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry also welcomed Donald Trump’s action against the IRGC. Bahrain has repeatedly accused the IRGC and the Iranian government of supporting Shiites opposed to the government in the country.

So far, no reports have been published regarding reactions from other countries in the region to the placement of the IRGC on the U.S. terrorist organizations list, but it is expected that some of these countries that do not have friendly relations with the Islamic Republic, such as Saudi Arabia, will express satisfaction with the White House’s decision.

Source: DW