Iran condemns, reciprocates designation of IRGC as terrorist organization
Iran has strongly condemned the US move to label part of its armed forces as a foreign terrorist organization, responding by designating US Central Command and affiliated forces as a “terrorist group.”
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced today that the United States would designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “foreign terrorist organization.” The Wall Street Journal reported April 5 that as early as this week President Donald Trump would designate the IRGC as a “foreign terrorist organization,” an unprecedented move against a national armed force.
Iranian officials, as expected, have condemned the move by the United States. One of the first responses came from the commander of the IRGC, Mohammad Ali Jafari. “In case of such stupidity, the army and security forces of America in West Asia will no longer have the calm of today,” Jafari said April 7. When asked what the IRGC would do, Jafari replied, “If the Americans make such a stupid decision and endanger our national security, in accordance with the policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, we will make operational similar countermeasures.”
Ebrahim Raisi, the newly appointed judiciary chief and a rising star in the Islamic Republic, condemned the potential designation and accused the United States of being a supporter of terrorism. “A country that has nothing but arming, guiding and giving refuge to terrorists in its track record is labeling the armed forces of another country terrorist,” Raisi said. He added that such an action “has no political or legal validity,” but asked the Foreign Ministry and the Supreme National Security Council to respond with similar measures.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused those of pushing Trump to label the IRGC a terrorist organization of being “Netanyahu Firsters,” after the hard-line Israeli prime minister who has advocated a confrontational US-Iran policy. He added that those who push the United States into such decisions “fully understand its consequences for US forces in the region. In fact, they seek to drag [the] US into a quagmire on [Netanyahu’s] behalf.”
