ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – US officials announced Monday that Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) and its extraterritorial Quds Force are to be designated as foreign terrorist organizations, piling further US pressure the Islamic Republic.
Unveiling the new US policy in Washington on Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the designation comes as a “direct response to an outlaw regime and should surprise no one.”
The move, which will take effect on April 15, is designed to deprive Iran of the power to “spread misery and death” around the world, he said, accusing the IRGC of “actively engaging in terrorism” while it “masquerades as a legitimate military organization.”
IRGC assets will be frozen in areas under US jurisdiction and Americans are banned from doing business with the organization.
According to Iranian state media, Tehran has already responded to the move by designating US Central Command (CENTCOM) a foreign terrorist organization.
“Businesses and banks around the world now have a clear duty to ensure that companies with which they conduct financial transactions are not conducted with the IRGC in any material way,” Pompeo said, without mentioning any waivers or exemptions.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces the US will designate Iran's IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) during a press conference at the State Department in Washington DC, April 8, 2019. Photo: Saul Loeb / AFP
He also condemned the “con-artistry of the regime’s leaders,” branding them “racketeers, not revolutionaries.”
The move is simple a case of “recognizing a basic reality,” he added.
The IRGC is a paramilitary organization answering only to the Ayatollah – Iran’s supreme leader. It was formed during Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and operates independently of the regular armed forces.
Minutes before Pompeo spoke, US President Donald Trump released a White House statement setting out the new policy.
“Today, I am formally announcing my Administration’s plan to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including its Quds Force, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act,” Trump said.
“This unprecedented step, led by the Department of State, recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft.”
“The IRGC is the Iranian government’s primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign,” Trump added.
IRGC troops mark the 36th anniversary of the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88) in front of the shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini, just outside Tehran, Iran, September 21, 2016. File photo: Ebrahim Noroozi / AP The move takes US policy in the Middle East into uncharted waters, as unlike other groups on the US terror list, including the Islamic State (ISIS), Hezbollah, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the IRGC is effectively a national entity.
“This designation will be the first time that the United States has ever named a part of another government as a FTO. It underscores the fact that Iran’s actions are fundamentally different from those of other governments,” Trump said.
“This action will significantly expand the scope and scale of our maximum pressure on the Iranian regime. It makes crystal clear the risks of conducting business with, or providing support to, the IRGC. If you are doing business with the IRGC, you will be bankrolling terrorism.”
“This action sends a clear message to Tehran that its support for terrorism has serious consequences. We will continue to increase financial pressure and raise the costs on the Iranian regime for its support of terrorist activity until it abandons its malign and outlaw behavior,” Trump added.
US President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House, April 6, 2019. Photo Alex Brandon / APTrump pulled the US out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May 2018, arguing the agreement did not prevent Tehran from developing nuclear capabilities and did not stop it from interfering in regional conflicts.
Washington imposed a raft of sanctions targeting Iran’s economy, particularly its oil and banking sectors. The measures wiped 60 percent off the value of Iran’s currency, squeezing ordinary Iranians.
The IRGC is deeply enmeshed in the Iranian economy, its national politics, and foreign affairs. Its engineering wing Khatam al-Anbiya, which is already blacklisted by the US Treasury Department, is heavily engaged in Iran’s construction, infrastructure, oil and gas, and agricultural sectors, and even its missile defense systems.
Moving against the IRGC could lead to problems for American diplomats and businessmen. It also raises the likelihood of conflict.
Responding to the US move, Iran’s state news agency IRNA says the Supreme National Security Council has officially designated CENTCOM a terrorist organization and called the US a state supporter of terrorism.
“The council condemns in the strongest terms the illegal and dangerous decision of the regime of the United States to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization,” IRNA quotes from a council statement.
“This baseless action is a substantial threat to peace and security in the region and in internationally and a clear violation of international law and the charter of the United Nations.”
“In a retaliatory action, the Islamic Republic of Iran ... announces that the regime of the United States is a state supporter of terrorism and the Central Command of America known as CENTCOM and all the forces affiliated with it as ‘terrorist group’,” the statement adds.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. File photo: Ebrahim Noroozi / APThe council said CENTCOM “is responsible for executing the terrorist policies of the United States in the western Asia region which endangers the national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the innocent Iranian and non-Iranian people ... including the savage and deliberate attack on the Iranian civilian airliner in 1367 [1988 in western calendar], participation in the massacre of people of Yemen, and other non-military citizens in Western Asia.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif earlier called on President Hassan Rouhani to retaliate with a designation of its own.
“Although the Islamic Republic of Iran has not and is not after tension, it will reciprocate (the move) if the US makes such a decision,” Zarif reportedly told Iran’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission earlier on Monday, according to FARS.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement on the eve of Israel's general election thanking Trump for the decision.
“Thank you, my dear friend, US President Donald Trump, for having decided to declare Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization,” Netanyahu said, according to AFP.
“Thank you for responding to another important request of mine, which serves the interests of our countries and countries of the region.”
Iran-ally Syria, meanwhile, condemned the move, calling it “a blatant attack” on the sovereignty of Iran, a foreign ministry source told state news agency SANA.
Mohsen Sazegara, an Iranian journalist and pro-democracy activist based in the US who was jailed in Iran in 2003, told Rudaw the designation will likely have at least three main effects.
“First, economic impact, because the Revolutionary Guards, in cooperation with the house of the [supreme] leader, own and control more than 46 percent of Iran’s GDP. So many companies that are owned by the Revolutionary Guards will be affected and will be in trouble,” Sazegara told Rudaw TV on Monday night.
Iranian journalist and pro-democracy activist Mohsen Sazegara speaks to Rudaw TV from Washington, April 8, 2019. Photo: Rudaw TV
“Second goes for individuals from the Revolutionary Guard because if the US wants to make it hard for them then many of the Revolutionary Guard members cannot travel outside Iran, especially to the countries which are allied to the United States, especially Iraq.”
“Iraq will be one of the battlefields of this new stage of sanctions between the United States and Iran,” he said.
“And third, which everybody is now concerned about, even in Washington DC, is the danger of war between the United States and Iran.”
“As far as I know, the IRGC and the leaders of Iran do not want to start a war. They will avoid any military conflict with the United States,” Sazegara added.
The likelihood of war depends to a great extent on what the US does next in the region, Sazegara said, suggesting European Union states would be unlikely back US actions leading to open conflict.
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