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Iran: US, Israel irked by IRGC victories, capability

Iranian lawmakers - all wearing IRGC uniforms in support of the force - pose for a picture at the parliament in Tehran on April 9, 2019. (Photo by IRNA)

Iran says Washington’s designation of its Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a “foreign terrorist organization” runs counter to international norms, and stems from the US and the Israeli regime’s anger over the elite military force’s power and success in foiling their plots in the region.

Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami made the remarks in a statement released on Tuesday to mark the birth anniversary of Imam Hussein (PBUH), the third Shia Imam, which is IRGC commemoration Day in Iran.

Hatami praised the IRGC’s “decisive role” in “sensitive and strategic missions,” emphasizing that the force’s “victories and capability have angered and frustrated the US, the Zionist regime and their terrorist stooges.”

He also noted that the US designation flies in the face of international rules and amounts to “confrontation” with the Iranian Constitution, which has tasked the IRGC with safeguarding the 1979 Islamic Revolution and its achievements.

Washington’s move “reveals the depth of [its] failure in the region, its enmity towards the Islamic Revolution and the revolutionary people of Iran as well as its support for Takfiri and terrorist groups,” which have taken a stinging blow from the IRGC.

On Monday, the White House labeled Iran “a State Sponsor of Terrorism” and the IRGC a “foreign terrorist organization,” claiming that the elite Iranian force “actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft.”

Iran swiftly retaliated, with the Supreme National Security Council designating the US government a supporter of terrorism and its West Asia force, known as the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), a terrorist organization.

MPs pass motion on backing IRGC

Meanwhile, Iran’s Parliament (Majlis) overwhelmingly approved a double-urgency Tuesday on supporting the IRGC in the face of the United States.

The draft legislation was passed with 189 votes in favor, two against and one abstention.

In the introduction section, the measure underlined the role of the United States in the creation of Daesh, holding Washington responsible for the Takfiri terror group’s atrocities in the West Asia region.

It also makes mention of the IRGC’s unparalleled contribution to the defeats of Daesh and other terrorist outfits in the region.

The legislation said targeting a country’s official military force served to undermine regional and international peace and stability and contravened all legal and moral principles.

The Islamic Republic, as allowed by the international law, reserves the right to retaliate against the “hostile” decision, said the motion.

It designated the West Asia-based American military, security, and intelligence forces and all the natural and artificial persons associated with them as “terrorists,” considering any assistance to them to be “aiding and abetting acts of terror.”

 If need be, the Armed Forces would be taking “retaliatory and decisive” action pending Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC)’s discretion against “potential terrorist action and endangerment of Iran’s interests by the US forces, who operate in the region,” according to the legislation.

Therefore, the country’s servicemen are obliged to act in a manner that would prevent the American forces and “other terrorists” from using available means against Iran’s interests, it said.

The Iranian government is also required try its utmost to negate the effects of the US measure through bilateral and multilateral interaction with other countries and consultation with international institutions.

Larijani slams Trump’s ‘shameless’ move

Earlier on Tuesday, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said that the “disgraceful” and “shameless” blacklisting exposed Washington’s “idiocy and ignorance” in dealing with the Iranian nation.  

Everyone is aware of the heavy blows the IRGC has dealt to terrorism in the region and of the fact that the force has been standing by the nation since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in confronting terror groups, which rely on the support of big powers.

Larijani further noted that Iran considers “the US government and armed forces as the symbol of international terrorism in military and economic dimensions.”
