US declares Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group.
US President Donald Trump designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a foreign terrorist group on Monday (8), an unprecedented move that increases tension in the Middle East.
Lesley Wroughton (Reuters) - US President Donald Trump designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a foreign terrorist group on Monday, an unprecedented move that increases tensions in the Middle East.
Iran deemed the move illegal and initially warned it would retaliate against Washington for its action against the elite force, the country's most powerful security organization. Subsequently, Iran's Supreme Security Council designated the U.S. military as a terrorist organization, state TV reported.
This is the first time the U.S. has formally identified another nation's military as a terrorist group.
"The IRGC is the Iranian government's primary means of directing and deploying its global terrorist campaign," Trump said in a statement.
The designation “makes clear the risks of doing business with, or offering support to, the IRGC,” he stated. “If you are doing business with the IRGC, you are financing terrorism.”
Critics warned that the decision could expose U.S. military and intelligence officials to similar actions from hostile governments. The U.S. has already blacklisted dozens of entities and individuals due to their affiliations with the Revolutionary Guard, but not the organization as a whole.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a vocal critic of Iran, has been pushing for a policy change that is part of the Trump administration's hardening stance toward Tehran. Pompeo said at a press conference that the designation will take effect in a week.
The announcement comes shortly before the first anniversary of Trump's decision to withdraw the U.S. from a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran and reinstate sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy.
Created after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Shiite clerical system, the IRGC controls many sectors of the economy and has enormous influence on Iran's political system.
She is in charge of the nation's ballistic missile and nuclear program – Tehran has warned that it has missiles with a range of up to 2 kilometers, which puts Israeli and US military bases in the region within their range.