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In a first, US designates Iran’s IRGC foreign terrorist organization
The United States designated Iran a state sponsor of terrorism in 1984 and has accused it of supporting Hizballah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Kata’ib Hizballah, al-Ashtar Brigades. On Monday, Washington said Iran “employs terrorism as a central tool of its statecraft and uses the IRGC to direct and carry out its global terrorist campaign”.
The Trump administration on Monday designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization, using the listing for the first time against a part of another government in an “unprecedented” and “historic” development marking a new escalation in tensions with Iran.
“Today, I am formally announcing my administration’s plan to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including its Qods Force, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO),” Trump said in a statement. “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 designation, which takes effect after a week, will enable the United States to pursue criminal prosecution of foreign officials and entities found dealing with the IRGC, which, along with its parts, has been sanctioned before. In 2017, the US designated IRGC a Specially Designated Global Terrorist; in 2007, it was sanctioned for supporting Iran’s nuclear and ballistic weapons programme; and in 2011 and 2012 for alleged human rights abuses.
The United States designated Iran a state sponsor of terrorism in 1984 and has accused it of supporting Hizballah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Kata’ib Hizballah, al-Ashtar Brigades. On Monday, Washington said Iran “employs terrorism as a central tool of its statecraft and uses the IRGC to direct and carry out its global terrorist campaign”.
The White House went on to hold the IRGC “directly involved” in a number of terrorists attacks around the world, from a plot to attack the Saudi ambassador to Washington in 2011 to activities in Germany, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Kenya, Bahrain, Turkey, and others.
A state department fact-sheet on the designation listed a September 2018 US court ruling that held Iran and the IRGC “liable” for the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia in which 19 Americans were killed
In 2012, the statement, went on, IRGC Qods Force operatives were arrested in Turkey for plotting an attack and in Kenya for planning a bombing. And German authorities uncovered an alleged terrorist plot involving IRGC operative in September 2017.
The new designation comes as part of the Trump administration’s strategy to maximize pressure on Teheran to force it to give up nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programme and end its “malign activities” in the region, a phrase the US has used for alleged Iranian support for terrorism and disruptions in the region. President Trump took the United States out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, called the nuclear deal, in May, 2018, and has snapped back the sanctions lifted by the Obama administration.
