Biden administration is actively considering removing Iran’s notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) from the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations.
According to a recent report published by the Axios, the Biden administration is demanding in return “a public commitment from Iranian regime to de-escalation in the region”.
Iranian mullah mafia regime has been continuously demanding the removal of it’s IRGC from US designation.
The report said that the IRGC’s terror designation is “not directly related” to the nuclear agreement being finalized by international negotiators in Vienna but “would take the form of a separate bilateral understanding between the US and Iran”.
The report also said that former Vice President Mike Pence told Israeli officials during a visit last week that the Biden administration was considering de-listing the IRGC “in return for a more narrow commitment not to target Americans”. However, US officials told Israel that this idea had been rejected.
The IRGC is a notorious and mighty military organization tasked with protecting Iran’s political system. It has its own army, navy, air force and intelligence branches and oversees Iran’s strategic weapons.
The IRGC’s Quds Force oversees Iran’s relationships with terror proxies such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and Iraqi Shi’ite militias, providing money, weapons and training.
Axios also reported that Secretary of State Antony Blinken is planning a possible trip to the Middle East later in March. The itinerary would include talks in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Sources stressed that the Blinken trip could be postponed or cancelled depending on developments in Ukraine.
The IRGC, a hardline militia with close ties to Iran’s supreme leader, was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by former president Donald Trump’s administration after it withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Israel is reportedly opposed to the idea, particularly because the pledge from the IRGC to reign in its activities is not slated to include an explicit reference to actions against US allies in the region such as Israel.
The State Department told Axios that no decision has been made on the IRGC designation and “any speculation to the contrary is simply uninformed”.
Moreover, the official said that the IRGC would remain on a separate terror list and would be subject to numerous other sanctions.
Another official told the site that the maximum pressure sanctions by the Trump administration, which included the listing of the IRGC, were “a clear failure”, as they only led to Iran to escalate its nuclear activity and nefarious actions in the region.
Rumblings of a possible IRGC delisting made headlines last month as well.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid came out against the idea then as well, saying, “Everyone in his right mind should talk to the administration about this and tell them, ‘This is just wrong, don’t do that’”.
“They are now asking to let the biggest terror organization on earth off the hook”, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said then of the Iranians.
Reaction from Iranian dissidents
A top Iranian resistance group is warning that any move to take the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps off the US Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list will “heighten terrorism and mayhem” in the region, amid fears the Biden administration will make such a move as part of negotiations to bring Iran back into the 2015 nuclear deal.
“A potential IRGC exclusion from the FTO list and taking these individuals off the terror blacklist, as requested by Iran’s ruling theocracy, will no doubt heighten terrorism and mayhem in the region,” the report by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), released Thursday, said.
The report by the NCRI, which calls for a secular, democratic and non-nuclear Iran, said the designation “handicapped many of the IRGC-related foreign financial transactions”.
The report outlines the IRGC’s work in military and terrorist operations in other countries in the region, via proxies, and the training of foreign mercenaries in places like Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. It also outlines allegations it funded Hamas, and also looked to organize assassination attempts on US soil. It supports the NCRI’s previous reports about the IRGC’s use of drones and naval proxies.
“The IRGC’s involvement in research & development of weapons of mass destruction, ceaseless terrorist activities to foment mayhem, destruction and instability across the Middle East, its financial empire to fund its nefarious activities inside Iran and abroad, make this terror outfit a serious global threat,” the report says.
It also outlines how the IRGC is used against the Iranian people, particularly after uprisings from dissidents have shaken the regime’s grip on power, in order to project an image of its own strength onto the people.
The group warns that the outreach and JCPOA talks by the US and its allies have only served to embolden the regime in Tehran’s terrorist activities.
“The continued offers of concessions by Western countries and lack of accountability for the regime’s terrorism, have emboldened Tehran to step up its terrorism in the region,” Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the NCRI’s Washington office, said with the release of the report.
