US labels Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a Terrorist Outfit

The United States of America has finally designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps its elite military outfit as a terrorist organisation thereby marking for the first time when the US has formally labelled the army of another country as a terrorist group. The move is expected to open both US military and intelligence officials to similar reactions by various unfriendly governments.

The United States has also blacklisted many dozens of entities and individuals for various affiliations with the IRGC but not the whole armed organisation. The move was confirmed by President Trump earlier in the week in a bid to increase pressure on Iran thereby raising the cost on Iran for supporting its terrorist activity. Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State has said that the whole process of designation will take a week to complete.

Iranian officials had warned the US over the move stating that such a step will destabilise the entire region and may also draw on a reciprocal response. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif had said that any such move by the US will be disastrous for the region as it may lead to instability and other kinds of reciprocal responses. In a tweet, referring to the Prime Minister of Israel, Zarif wrote, “#NetanyahuFirsters who have long agitated for FTO designation of the IRGC fully understand its consequences for US forces in the region. In fact, they seek to drag the US into a quagmire on his behalf. @real Donald Trump should know better than to be conned into another US disaster”.

In a separate retaliatory statement, IRGC’s commander Mohammad Ali Jafari stated that the US troops positioned in the Middle East will also lose their present status of ease and serenity if Washington administration proceeded with such kind of foolishness and also warned of a reciprocal move from Tehran. He further added that “If reports prove to be true that the stupid US administration intends to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation, then the IRGC [Revolutionary Guards] will also specify the US army as a group like ISIL in all parts of the world, especially the Middle-East,.

IRGC is considered the most powerful security organisation of Tehran and was established after the 1979 Islamic Revolution by the Shia clerical ruling system for their protection in the country. Latter had toppled the Western-allied secular monarch Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and had led to the formation of the Islamic Republic in its present form.