Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warn US against sanctions

BEIRUT (Reuters) – A senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps warned the US on Monday that if it designated the group a terrorist organization and applied new sanctions, its action could be perilous for US forces in the region.

United States officials said earlier this year that President Donald Trump’s administration was considering a proposal that could lead to categorizing the powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.

In Mid-June the US Senate voted for new sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile program and other activities not related to the international nuclear agreement reached with the US and other world powers in 2015.

To become law, the legislation must pass the House of Representatives and be signed by Trump.

“Counting the Revolutionary Guards the same as terrorist groups and applying similar sanctions to the Revolutionary Guards is a big risk for America and its bases and forces deployed in the region,” said Maj.-Gen. Muhammad Bagheri, the head of the Iranian armed forces, according to Sepah News, an official news site of the Guard Corps.

He did not give details on what form of risk he foresaw for US forces and bases.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the most powerful security force in Iran, overseeing vast economic holdings worth billions of dollars and wielding huge influence in its political system.

Bagheri said on Monday that Iran’s missile program is defensive and would never be up for negotiation, according to Sepah News.

Three days after the US Senate voted on the new sanctions, Iran fired missiles into eastern Syria, targeting bases of Islamic State, which had claimed responsibility for attacks in Tehran that killed 18 people.

The IRGC is fighting in Syria against groups that oppose Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Bagheri was also critical of recent remarks by US Defense Secretary James Mattis that regime change would be necessary before the United States could normalize relations with Iran.

“American officials should speak a little more wisely, thoughtfully and maturely about other countries, particularly a powerful country like Iran which has stood against all plots with strength and pride,” he said, according to Sepah News.