By Viktoria Ristanovic
Nation & World Editor
President Donald Trump announced on April 8 that he would be labeling an important and elite Iranian military force as a foreign terrorist organization, according to Politico.
The president and his aides have contemplated the action for months. They decided to hold back until now, due to military experts warning that by not taking action, American troops will become endangered since the group — The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran — is already facing multiple sanctions from the U.S., Politico reported.
However, according to Politico, Iranian officials have berated Trump’s announcement, and have warned of “‘consequences’ for U.S. troops in the Middle East.”
According to the country’s Mehr news agency, Parliament passed an emergency bill mandating that countries that detain U.S. troops should deliver them to Iran to face trial as terrorists, NBC News reported.
NBC News also reported that the Revolutionary Guard Corps was a powerful unit that has profound economic resources and that it can only respond to the rule of the country’s “supreme leader in the same category as al Qaeda and the Islamic State group.”
Trump deemed the designation an “‘unprecedented step’ that ‘recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a state sponsor of terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft,’” NBC News stated.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated that “‘the Trump administration is simply recognizing a basic reality. The IRGC masquerades as a legitimate military organization, but none of us should be fooled. It regularly violates the laws of armed conflict and plans, organizes, and executes terror campaigns all around the world,’” he said, according to ABC News.
Senior State Department official Brian Hook stated that the objective is to cool down Iran’s economic investment by making the economy “‘radioactive,’” ABC News reported. Officials of the State Department reported that this would be next in the pressure campaign against Iran.
