Iran warns US not to act against elite force
Print Edition
IRAN promised yesterday to give a “crushing” response if the United States designated its elite Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group.
The pledge came a week before US President Donald Trump is scheduled to state how he wants to contain Tehran. He is expected on Sunday to “decertify” a landmark 2015 international deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program, a step that by itself stops short of pulling out of the agreement but gives the US Congress 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions.
Trump is also expected to designate Iran’s most powerful security force, the Revolutionary Guards, as a terrorist organization, as he rolls out a broader US strategy on Iran.
“We are hopeful that the United States does not make this strategic mistake,” foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA. “If they do, Iran’s reaction would be firm, decisive and crushing and the United States should bear all its consequences,” he added.
Individuals and entities associated with the guards are already on the US list of foreign terrorist bodies, but the Revolutionary Guards organization as a whole is not.
Mohammad Ali Jafari, the guards’ commander, said: “If the news is correct about the stupidity of the American government in considering the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group, then the Revolutionary Guards will consider the American army to be like Islamic State.”
Jafari also said that additional sanctions would end the chances for future dialogue with the US and that the Americans would have to move their regional bases outside the 2,000-kilometer range of the guards’ missiles.
Qasemi also denied US accusations that Iran had cooperated with North Korea.
In an interview that was aired on Saturday night, Trump accused Iran of “funding North Korea” and “doing things with North Korea that are totally inappropriate.” Qasemi responded: “Israel and some specific countries are raising these accusations to create Iranophobia,”
In his first speech to the UN General Assembly in September, Trump called Iran “a corrupt dictatorship,” and the nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama “an embarrassment.”
The deal, which was also supported by Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, saw Iran agree to curbs on its nuclear program in return for the lifting of international sanctions that had damaged its economy.
China yesterday said it hopes the Iran nuclear deal will stay intact, playing an important role in keeping the peace.
Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the Iran nuclear deal was a good example of how to solve something peacefully through talks. The agreement had played a positive and important role in ensuring nuclear non-proliferation and protecting peace and stability in the Middle East, she added.
Russia said yesterday that any US withdrawal from the nuclear deal would have “negative consequences.”
The Trump administration is seeking to put more pressure on the Revolutionary Guards, especially over recent ballistic missile tests and what Washington has called their “malign activities” across the Middle East.
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