- After Trump’s Designation of IRGC
TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif on Monday proposed that Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) add U.S. forces in West Asia to its list of terrorist groups.
The SNSC then issued a statement, saying it had declared the U.S. government a "state sponsor of terrorism” and the United States Central Command (Centcom) as a "terrorist group.”
Zarif made the proposal in a letter to President Hassan Rouhani, who is also head of the SNSC, after U.S. President Donald Trump designated Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization.
In his letter, Zarif said given overt and covert support of U.S. military forces in the region for terrorist groups and their direct involvement in terrorist acts, the SNSC should designate American forces as terrorists under "Countering America’s Human Rights Violation and Adventurous and Terrorist Actions” law.
In August 2017, Iran's lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the motion in response to U.S. sanctions, voting to boost spending on Tehran's missile program and the IRGC’s defense mechanism.
On Sunday, a majority of Iranian parliamentarians made it clear that Iran would take reciprocal action against the United States if Washington designated the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps as terrorists.
"We will answer any action taken against this force with a reciprocal action,” a statement issued by 255 out of the 290 Iranian lawmakers said, according to IRNA.
"So the leaders of America, who themselves are the creators and supporters of terrorists in the (Middle East) region, will regret this inappropriate and idiotic action.”
Trump’s decision is the first time the U.S. has formally labeled another country’s military a terrorist group. The action follows a months-long escalation of Washington's rhetoric against the Islamic Republic after Trump withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord last year and reimposed sanctions.
The move is intended to put pressure on the financial assets of the IRGC, a powerful security organization founded in the aftermath of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran's Judiciary chief Ayatollah Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi said the designation is doomed to fail like all other mischievous acts previously taken by the U.S. against the Islamic Republic.
"A country, which has no other track records but arming, supporting and harboring terrorist groups, considers an official armed force of another country that has always been a pioneer in helping people and defending the Islamic movements, as a terrorist organization,” Raeisi said.
"This measure has no credit either in political or legal terms in the eyes of the world’s governments and nations,” he added.
Ayatollah Raeisi said it was " incumbent on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Supreme National Security Council to respond in kind, because such a countermeasure will be acceptable to the world public opinion, which is well aware of the United States’ bloody backdrop in supporting terrorism.”
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser, are Iran hawks who prior to joining the president's inner circle long called for regime change in Iran.
"In fact, they seek to drag U.S. into a quagmire on his behalf. @realDonaldTrump should know better than to be conned into another U.S. disaster," Zarif had tweeted on Sunday.
The chief commander of the IRGC warned on Sunday that the elite force would take reciprocal action against the U.S. forces on its agenda if Washington labeled it as a "terrorist organization.”
"If the Americans make such a silly move and endanger our national security, we will implement and put reciprocal measures on our agenda based on the policies of Iran's Islamic establishment," Major General Muhammad Ali Jafari said.
The IRGC, which is a branch of Iran’s armed forces, played a major role in defending the country during the 1980-1988 imposed war with Iraq.
Over the past four decades, the IRGC has successfully foiled conspiracies hatched by the enemies against the Islamic Republic. The corps is also actively cooperating in construction, infrastructure and relief projects.
In 2007, the U.S. Treasury designated the IRGC's Quds Force, the unit in charge of operations abroad.
Quds Force has been central to Iran’s anti-terror campaign, including its assistance to Iraq and Syria to defeat Daesh and other terrorist groups.
Many observers believe Takfiri terrorists serve the U.S. agenda in the region, which includes weakening Muslim states in the interests of the occupying regime of Israel.
The IRGC has proved a potent force in the region, where several popular militia groups have emulated the Iranian corps to stand against the U.S. military presence and the Israeli occupation.
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