Iran TerrorismU.S. State Department: IRGC Designation Will Reduce American Deaths...

U.S. State Department: IRGC Designation Will Reduce American Deaths at Hand of Iran

-

Three commanders of the Revolutionary Guards Corps

By Pooya Stone

Officials from the US State Department have said that the decision to place the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the list of Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTOs) will reduce the risk of American soldiers or citizens dying as a result of IRGC General Qasem Soleimani.

Brian Hook, US Special Representative for Iran, said: “General Soleimani has the blood of Americans on his hands, as does the force that he leads, and this designation that we took yesterday is another step to reduce the risk that any American soldier or any American will be killed by General Soleimani and the racket that he runs with the IRGC and the Quds Force.”

He highlighted evidence from recently declassified documents that blame the deaths of 608 US troops in Iraq from 2003 until 2011 on the IRGC’s supply of bombs to Shiite militias.

Donald Trump announced the designation, which comes into effect on April 15, on Monday. The US has previously blacklisted dozens of IRGC-affiliated entities and individuals, even designating the IRGC’s Quds Force, which fight Iran’s proxy wars in the region and the US described as Iran’s “primary arm for executing its policy of supporting terrorist and insurgent groups”, “for its support of terrorism” in 2007, but never the IRGC as a whole.

The IRGC has 125,000 fighters across its army, navy and air units, plus the Quds Force and the Basij volunteer paramilitary group.

Hook said that the designation would not increase the chances of a military conflict with Iran and explained that sanctions are designed to increase the costs of Tehran’s expansionist foreign policy.

He said: “There is no better path to support the Iranian people than to pressure the regime from outside and to drive up the costs of its internal repression and external terrorism.”

Patrick Clawson, a senior fellow and director of research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that the US Treasury Department had already labelled the IRGC as a terrorist organization three times since 2007, so he saw little practical implications to the move, advising that it was merely symbolic to place the IRGC on the FTO.

While Nathan Sales, the State Department’s counterterrorism coordinator, further explained that US sanctions have had immediate effects.

He said: “Hezbollah used to receive $700 million a year to commit its terrorism from the Iranian regime. They’re now doing a fund-raising drive. That tells you something about the effects that our designations and sanctions tools have had.”

Latest news

Land Subsidence in Critical Conditions in Isfahan

Mehdi Toghyani, a member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), pointed to the occurrence of land subsidence in various...

Iran’s Actual Inflation Rate Higher Than Official Stats

The state-run Donya-e-eqtesad newspaper, in a report analyzing the "general sentiment" regarding inflation in 2023, has stated that households...

Iranian Workers’ Monthly $136 Wages Can’t Cover $500 Expenses

The lives of a significant portion of the Iranian population are marked by uncertainty, largely because the Iranian economy...

Iranian Nurses Earn Twice Their Wages in Ride-Hailing Services

Reza Aryanpour, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament) Health and Treatment Commission, highlighted the growing trend of nurses...

Iran: Unprecedented Record of 152 Million Liters of Gasoline Consumption Per Day

On March 19, Iran set a new historical record in gasoline consumption with 152 million liters consumed in one...

Iran’s Youths Have Highest Unemployment Rate

The Iranian regime’s Eghtesad News website reported that data from the Statistical Center of Iran shows that the youth...

Must read

Saudi minister says Arabs should stand up to Iran

AP: Saudi Arabia's top diplomat urged Arabs on Tuesday...

Iran unrest death sentences “distressing” – Clinton

Reuters: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on...

You might also likeRELATED
Recommended to you