ASSESSMENTS

By Targeting Iran's IRGC, Trump Goes Where No Other Administration Has

Apr 9, 2019 | 13:54 GMT

Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are seen on Sept. 22, 2018, in the Iranian capital of Tehran.

Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are seen on Sept. 22, 2018, in Tehran during an annual parade marking the anniversary of the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War. Designating the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization is a provocative new component of an ongoing U.S.-led process of widening and tightening the sanctions net on Iran.

(STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • The designation of the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization will complicate any future talks between Iran and the United States.
  • It also sets an important international precedent that could lead to the spread of the practice of labeling foreign military branches as terrorist groups.
  • The impact on the IRGC itself, however, might be limited given the extent to which existing U.S. sanctions already covered Iran and the IRGC.
  • Iran's response is likely to remain proportional and not escalate into military reprisals.

Following two years of debate, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump opted on April 8 to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a "Foreign Terrorist Organization." This is the first time that the U.S. State Department has listed a branch of a foreign military as a terrorist organization, setting an important international precedent. Iran responded in kind the same day, designating the United States a supporter of terrorism and U.S. Central Command a terrorist group. ...

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