Iran defies US terror designation for Guards

Iranian lawmakers dressed in paramilitary uniforms chanted “death to America” as they convened for an open session of parliament after the White House designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a foreign terrorist organisation.

President Hassan Rouhani said the force’s popularity would only surge in the wake of the designation, saying guard members would be dearer “than any other time in the hearts of the Iranian nation”.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised the Guard and said America’s “evil designs would not harm” the force.

The move by Washington as an unprecedented declaration against a foreign government entity – one that could prompt retaliation and make it harder for Americans to work with allies in the region who have contact with members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

It marks the first time the US has designated an entire entity of another government as a terrorist organisation.