Zarif’s Official Protest to UN in Response to US Action Against IRGC
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister, in a letter to António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, and the Security Council, protested the recent US decision to place the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the list of “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” and stated that Washington is responsible for the consequences of this decision.
The Iranian news agency IRNA published the text of this letter on Thursday, April 11.
Iran’s Foreign Minister described the US government’s action of placing “an official branch of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran” on the “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” list as “unprecedented, illegal, and dangerous.”
Donald Trump, President of the United States, placed the IRGC on the “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” list of the US State Department on April 8.
According to the US President, the IRGC is “the regime’s primary tool for directing and executing its international terrorism campaign.”
This is while Mohammad Javad Zarif in his letter to the UN Secretary-General states that this US action “is a flagrant violation of established principles of international law and the UN Charter, including the principle of equality of state sovereignty.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister continued: “This provocative move escalates tensions to a confrontational and uncontrollable level and increases the danger of incidents and events in a region that has already been facing countless challenges.”
Following Donald Trump’s decision to place the IRGC on the “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” list, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council announced that it considers the “US Central Command” in West Asia, “known as CENTCOM,” and all forces affiliated with it as a “terrorist group.”
However, Mohammad Javad Zarif states: Iran’s designation of CENTCOM “as a terrorist organization by Iran is solely based on reciprocal action and should not be considered as a change in Iran’s legal position regarding the principle of equality of state sovereignty and the definition of terrorism.”
Continued Maximum Pressure on Iran and IRGC
Meanwhile, John Bolton, National Security Advisor to the White House, said on Thursday that the United States will continue its maximum economic pressure campaign against Iran and the IRGC.
John Bolton raised this issue in response to new US sanctions against a Lebanese network linked to the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
The White House National Security Advisor wrote on Twitter: The US Treasury and the US Drug Enforcement Administration exposed another money laundering and terrorist network working for Hezbollah.
John Bolton emphasized: We will continue to apply maximum economic pressure on Iran and its terrorist arm, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, its proxy groups, and its criminal allies around the world.
The US government has consistently accused Iran’s government of provocative actions to destabilize the Middle East region, including Lebanon, and states that one of the main objectives of intensifying pressure and sanctions against Iran is to reduce Tehran’s financial power and block the financial resources of its regional allies such as the Lebanese Hezbollah.
Source: Radio Farda
