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Iranian Deputies Warn U.S. Of Retaliation If Revolutionary Guards Designated Terror Group

By RFE/RL's Radio Farda April 07, 2019

Iranian deputies say they will take reciprocal action against the United States if Washington designates the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group.

"We will answer any action taken against [the IRGC] with a reciprocal action," said a statement signed by 255 of the 290 Iranian parliamentarians, the state news agency IRNA reported on April 7.

U.S. media are reporting that the United States will soon designate the IRGC a foreign terrorist organization, which would be the first time Washington has given that label to the military unit of another country.

The Wall Street Journal and Reuters, citing U.S. officials, reported on April 5 that Washington could add the IRGC on its Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) list as early as April 8. Such a move has been speculated upon for several years.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has promoted the change by Washington as part of a tougher stance toward Iran by the administration of President Donald Trump.

The United States has already blacklisted dozens of entities and people for affiliations with the IRGC, but the organization as a whole is not.

"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," the parliament deputies' statement read.

Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, the chairman of parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said in an April 6 tweet: "If the IRGC is placed on America's list of terrorist groups, we will put that country's military on the terror blacklist alongside [the extremist terror group] ISIS."

IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari also warned in 2017 that if the Trump administration designated the IRGC a terror group "then the Revolutionary Guards will consider the American army to be like Islamic State all around the world."

The IRGC -- which has forces totaling some 100,000 personnel -- was created after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Shi'ite system of clerical rule and is Iran's most powerful security organization, controlling big portions of the Iranian economy while wielding strong political influence.

It also runs Tehran's ballistic missile programs, according to the Congressional Research Service.

With reporting by Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iranian-deputies-warn- u-s-of-retaliation-if-revolutionary-guards- designated-terror-group/29866211.html

Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.