{"id":7096,"date":"2017-02-25T23:30:30","date_gmt":"2017-02-26T04:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/?p=7096"},"modified":"2017-02-25T23:30:30","modified_gmt":"2017-02-26T04:30:30","slug":"why-the-us-should-target-irans-revolutionary-guards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/7096\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the US Should Target Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Source: Algemeiner.com<\/a> \u00a0by Heshmat Alavi<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
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\"Members<\/a>
Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Photo: Wikipedia.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The possibility of the Trump White House blacklisting Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) is causing enormous tension in Tehran, as the regime understands the political, economic \u2014 and, perhaps\u00a0most importantly \u2014 geopolitical consequences of such a move.<\/p>\n

An Iranian opposition group has scheduled a\u00a0Tuesday\u00a0press conference<\/a>\u00a0to provide new information about the IRGC Quds Force \u201ccommand headquarters for terrorist training of foreign mercenaries and a number of overt and covert training centers\u201d across Iran, according to the online statement.<\/p>\n

The IRGC was established supposedly to safeguard the\u00a0\u201cIslamic Revolution.\u201d The FTO\u00a0designation of this enormously important Tehran entity would further toughen US President Donald Trump\u2019s push on Iran.<\/p>\n

The IRGC is in full control of the mullahs\u2019 cherished ballistic missile program, used especially to lift morale within the\u00a0regime\u2019s dwindling and highly fragile social base.<\/p>\n

Washington has considered Tehran a\u00a0state sponsor of terrorism<\/a>\u00a0since 1984, as the regime has continuously armed, trained and financed a conglomerate of terrorist groups in the Middle East \u2014 mainly Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen.<\/p>\n

Designating the IRGC, an official armed force, rather than another militia group, would be unprecedented. It\u00a0would send a signal to Iran that the new US administration is targeting the very core of its apparatus\u00a0\u2014 one that also\u00a0enjoys\u00a0significant leverage<\/a>\u00a0over its economy.<\/p>\n

The IRGC is the leading force behind\u00a0Iran\u2019s nuclear program<\/a>,\u00a0ballistic missile drive<\/a>,\u00a0involvement in Syria<\/a>\u00a0and other states and atrocious domestic\u00a0human rights violations<\/a>. The FTO designation would ban any economic transactions and relations with IRGC-affiliated companies, thereby significantly curbing its\u00a0access to the revenue needed to pursue all the above-mentioned ambitions.<\/p>\n

There are already signs of increasing concerns in this regard having a considerable effect.<\/p>\n

The France-based international oil and gas French company Total has\u00a0hinged<\/a>\u00a0its plans for\u00a0a $2 billion project in Iran in the\u00a0summer on US sanctions waivers, which now seem unlikely, to say the least, with the Trump administration imposing a major policy overhaul.<\/p>\n

Companies across the world are already described as wary about doing business with\u00a0Iran. The FTO designation would bring an end to all the leeway provided for foreign businesses to enjoy working with entities that may be connected with\u00a0the IRGC.<\/p>\n

And while some argue that an FTO designation for the IRGC would result in Iran\u2019s abandoning ship on the nuclear deal reached with the P5+1 in July 2015, they are absolutely wrong. Tehran needs the accord more than any other party, as crippling international sanctions were taking their toll on its economy. And rest assured that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would never have blessed such a pact were better options available.<\/p>\n

The Iranian opposition has a history of shedding important light on the IRGC\u2019s destructive roles, and calling for necessary action in this regard.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s \u201cnuclear and missile program is against the Iranian people\u2019s interest and must be stopped,\u201d\u00a0Maryam Rajavi<\/a>, president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI<\/a>)\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0recently.<\/p>\n

The NCRI has welcomed the Trump administration\u2019s recent round of sanctions against Tehran and earlier\u00a0proposed<\/a>\u00a0measures aimed at \u201cbanning all deals and trade with IRGC-affiliated companies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration is now facing a very important opportunity to deliver the message that the mullahs deserve to hear. In\u00a0so doing, it will be\u00a0on the right side of history where supporting the Iranian people\u2019s struggle for\u00a0freedom and democracy through peaceful regime change is concerned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: Algemeiner.com \u00a0by Heshmat Alavi The possibility of the Trump White House blacklisting Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7097,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran-world","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7096"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7098,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7096\/revisions\/7098"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}