US DESIGNATES
IRANIAN REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS A TERRORIST GROUP
WASHINGTON - The United States moved Monday to list Iran’s elite military Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization as the Trump administration looks for new ways to increase economic and political pressure on the Islamic regime in Tehran.
The designation marks the first time Washington has branded a foreign government entity a terrorist group and came despite warnings from U.S. military and intelligence officials that other nations could use the designation as a precedent against U.S. action abroad.
The announcement also comes one day before Israeli elections in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking a fifth term by highlighting his close ties to the Trump administration and hawkish promises to battle threatening Iranian behaviour across the Middle East.
U.S. officials have long said the IRGC’S opaque structure and far-flung responsibilities provided a mask for terrorist activities that threaten Israelis, Europeans and U.S. forces, and whether to make the designation has been debated for years. But prior administrations refrained from taking that step because of concerns that other nations could similarly target U.S. national security agencies, putting American officials and military personnel at risk of being detained while travelling abroad.
The Iranian government immediately condemned the designation Monday and alleged that it was done to boost Netanyahu’s electoral chances.
“A(nother) misguided election-eve gift to Netanyahu. A(nother) dangerous U.S. misadventure in the region,” Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammed Javad Zarif, responded on Twitter in English. The Supreme National Security Council of Iran responded Monday by branding “the government of the United States as a supporter of terrorism and Central Command, also known as Centcom, and all of its affiliated forces, as terrorist groups,” state news agency IRNA reported.
Matt Levitt, a former Treasury Department official who is Director of the Counterterrorism programme at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the move may have other unintended consequences. Among the possibilities he reeled off: That Russia and China may start designating U.S. agencies for punitive actions, or that Iraq could be caught in a double bind as it purchases electricity from Iran, including from entities tied to the IRGC.
“When you take it all into account, the big question at the end of the day is, what does this tangibly add to our tool kit?” Levitt said. “It does add some things, but I’m not convinced they’re all that significant.”
The designation is likely to complicate U.S. actions in Iraq, where U.S. troops work to prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State and where Shiite militias tied to the IRGC operate close by. The IRGC is also tied to Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the political wing of the terror group is part of the government.
Netanyahu, who faces corruption allegations and a tough reelection fight against a former military chief, cast the U.S. move as a sign of his influence with the United States.
The designation puts further distance between Trump’s policies toward Iran and those of European allies who remain a part of the nuclear deal.
A senior German security official said the designation is not out of bounds because the IRGC “is an organization which is committing terroristic acts,” but that Europe is unlikely to follow suit because of diplomatic and business ties to Iran.
The idea of designating the unit has carried some bipartisan support for years. U.S. officials noted Monday that in 2007 then-sen. Barack Obama, D-ill., and then-sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., signed onto a bill urging President George W. Bush to make the IRGC designation. Once elected president, however, Obama backed off this stance, concluding that the designation would create more risk than reward.