The United States has announced its decision to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization, as part of a pressure campaign against the Ayatollah regime. According to Mike Pompeo: “Today, the United States is continuing to build its ‘maximum pressure’ campaign against the Iranian regime. I am announcing our intent to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps including its Quds Force as a foreign terrorist organization in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This designation will take effect one week from today.”
State Secretary Pompeo underlined, in his announcement to reporters, that the unprecedented move is aimed at depriving the world’s leading state sponsor of the financial means necessary to spread misery and death around the world. “This is the first time that the United States has designated a part of another government as an FTO. We’re doing it because the Iranian regime’s use of terrorism as a tool of statecraft makes it fundamentally different from any other government. This historic step will deprive the world’s leading state sponsor of terror the financial means to spread misery and death around the world,” the U.S. Secretary of State said.
The American top diplomat noted that the decision also meant to send a clear message to Iran’s leaders, according to which the United States will muster all pressure essential to stop the regimes outlawed behavior – and urged Washington’s international partners to do the same.
In response to this decision, the Islamic Republic of Iran announced its retaliatory action by naming the United States Central Command as a terrorist organization and the U.S. Administration as a sponsor of terror. In an address to the Iranian parliament, President Hassan Rouhani claimed that the American measure against the Islamic Revolutionary Guards was expected, as apparent “actions of vengeance” from the United States and Israel.