The United States has designated Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization, effective Monday, which makes it illegal for any organization to provide material support to the IRGC. The Trump administration accuses the group, formed by an order of Ayatollah Khomeini as a branch of Iran's Armed Forces founded after the 1979 Iranian revolution, of not only facilitating, but perpetrating, terrorism.

President Trump declared the designation an "unprecedented step" that "recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft." The designation marks the first time that the U.S. has said a part of another government is a terrorist organization, according to the White House, and will expand the scope and scale of the administration's maximum pressure campaign on the Iranian regime.

"The IRGC is the Iranian government's primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign," the president declared in a statement. The White House emphasized the action "sends a clear message to Tehran that its support for terrorism has serious consequences."

"We will continue to increase financial pressure and raise the costs on the Iranian regime for its support of terrorist activity until it abandons its malign and outlaw behavior," the president said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo formally made the announcement to the media at the State Department Monday morning, saying the move will "deprive the world's leading state sponsor of terror the financial means to spread misery and death."

"The IRGC masquerades as a legitimate military organization, but none of us should be fooled," Pompeo told reporters.

As one senior administration official put it on a conference call with reporters, "Today, the IRGC's era of plausible deniability is over."

Pompeo accused the IRGC of being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American service members. He said that "the blood of the 603 American soldiers" believed to have been killed by Iranian-sponsored groups during the Iraq War is on the hands of the IRGC.

Asked about the timing of the announcement, special representative to Iran Brian Hook said it's being done now because "it's the next step" in the administration's maximum pressure campaign. The goal, according to the administration, is to make Iran's economy "radioactive" so that businesses in Europe and around the world will come to the conclusion that dealing with Iran is simply not worth the risk.

CBS News "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan reports that White House officials, including National Security Adviser John Bolton and Pompeo himself, had been arguing for the designation for some time. The Pentagon, however, had voiced concerns about the designation given the close proximity of U.S. troops in Syria to Iranian forces.

Tensions between Iran and the U.S. have escalated since the Trump administration's pullout of the Iran nuclear agreement. The administration has since imposed the harshest sanctions on Iran to date.

The ideological militia has about 125,000 members and permeates almost every aspect of Iranian society with influence in political, military, economic circles. It is also thought to manage some 20 percent of the Iranian economy. So with this designation, the Trump administration is once again going after the money, having previously sanctioned almost 1,000 entities and individuals with ties to Iran.

Critics of this designation and the America's hawkish policy toward Iran, point out that every time the US takes action action Iran, the Iranian government digs in. There are no off-ramps or face-saving measures on the table that would allow Iran's leaders to save face if they chose to reverse course-- and no indication they plan to do so any time soon.

The all-stick-and-no-carrot approach has no gone down well with Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, who called rumors of the terror designation "another U.S. disaster." He tweeted that the policy was being enacted a the behest of supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a tweet following the official announcement, Netanyahu thanked his "dear friend" President Trump for making the designation.

תודה לך ידידי היקר, נשיא ארה״ב דונלד טראמפ, על כך שהחלטת להכריז על משמרות המהפכה של איראן כעל ארגון טרור. תודה על שנענית לעוד בקשה חשובה שלי, שמשרתת את האינטרס של מדינותינו ושל מדינות האזור. נמשיך לפעול יחד בכל דרך נגד המשטר האיראני שמאיים על מדינת ישראל, על ארה״ב ועל שלום העולם. — Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) April 8, 2019

In a translated message, Netanyahu thanked the U.S. president "for responding to another important request of mine, which serves the interests of our countries and countries of the region." The Israeli leader, who is seeking a fifth term as prime minister in Tuesday's election, has repeatedly denounced the Iranian regime as seeking to destroy the Jewish state, encouraging Mr. Trump to stand with Israel in defiance of Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"We will continue to act together in any way against the Iranian regime that threatens the state of Israel, the United States and the Peace of the world," Netanyahu said.

Meanwhile, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has alluded that it would continue to build up its military power despite strict U.S. sanctions. Asked about the Iranian response, Secretary Pompeo said Iran had better think "more than twice" before attacking the United States.

CBS News' Christina Ruffini contributed to this report.

This is a developing story.</s>Countries & Areas

Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Côte d’Ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino São Tomé and Príncipe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe</s>Why Is Trump Designating Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps As Foreign Terrorist Organization? After their failed coup plot in Venezuela, the Trump administration launched another crazy plan: The United States is expected to designate Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps a foreign terrorist organisation, three U.S. officials told Reuters, marking the first time Washington has formally labelled another country’s military a terrorist group. The White House just issued the designation (no link yet). The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is a part of the general Iranian military. It was founded after the 1979 revolution in Iran to protect the state from a coup by the regular Iranian army that served under the Shah. With some 125,000 men during peacetime the IRGC is only about a third the size of Iran's regular military. It has a similar structure with a groundforce, a navy and an aerospace branch. The IRCG has two additional small branches that are of foreign policy interest. One is the missile force which controls Iran's medium range missiles. The other is the Quds Force, a brigade size unit with some 4,000 men trained for special operations abroad. The IRGC size during wartime is about triple its peacetime size. Like Iran's regular army its personnal is made up of professionals, conscripts and reservists. Attached to the IRGC is the voluntary Basji force, local paramilitaries that can be called up for internal security issues. There are several endowments and charitable trusts (bonyads) with strong relations to the IRGC. They own commerical enterprises but their profits are distributed to IRGC veterans and to widows and orphans of deceased soldiers. In 2007 the U.S. Treasury already designated the Quds Force for its "support of terrorism". It also sanctioned several enterprises that are connected to the IRGC. It is totally unclear what the designation of the IRCG as a whole is supposed to achieve. It could be a symbolic move or, as some assume, a step towards a war on Iran: Former Under-Secretary of State and lead Iran negotiator, Wendy Sherman, said she worried about implications for U.S. forces. “One might even suggest, since it’s hard to see why this is in our interest, if the president isn’t looking for a basis for a conflict,” said Sherman, who is director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. “The IRGC is already fully sanctioned and this escalation absolutely endangers our troops in the region.” Mohammad Ali Shabani @mashabani - 14:36 utc - 8 Apr 2019 THREAD. Usual suspects pushed Trump to designate #IRGC as FTO. Why?

- Constrain Trump’s deal-making instincts

- Box in next US president on Iran (Dems say will rejoin JCPOA)

- Force Lebanon/Iraq into picking between Iran/US

- Force Europe to further cut whatever meager outreach

- provoke Iran to scrap JCPOA 

- and, ideally, initiate military confrontation Colonel Pat Lang likewise presumes that the move is an attempt to provoke a war: The AUMF on terrorism has been used far and wide as a hunting license to attack any armed group that could even distantly be thought a terrorist enemy. The anti-terrorism AUMF makes such attacks legal under US law. The Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) is a law passed after the 9/11 attack that allows the president: to use all "necessary and appropriate force" against those whom he determined "planned, authorized, committed or aided" the September 11th attacks, or who harbored said persons or groups. In an October 2017 speech President Trump accused Iran of having supported and harbored al-Qaeda: Iranian proxies provided training to operatives who were later involved in al Qaeda’s bombing of the American embassies in Kenya, Tanzania, and two years later, killing 224 people, and wounding more than 4,000 others. The regime harbored high-level terrorists in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, including Osama bin Laden’s son. In Iraq and Afghanistan, groups supported by Iran have killed hundreds of American military personnel. Trump's accusations agaimst Iran are false. Iran had nothing to do with the bombing in Kenya. After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan some family members of al-Qaeda leaders fled to Iran. They were put under house arrests and were held as hostages to prevent al-Qaeda operations against Iran. But the facts will not matter. The designation of the IRGC as "foreign terrorist" will likely make the AUMF relevant, at least under U.S. law. The official designation as "terrorist" of the IRGC which is a 125000 man army with its own navy and air force makes it legal for the US Armed Forces to attack the IRGC and its people wherever they are found and under any circumstances that may occur. It is a declaration of war. The neocon nitwits (Pompeo, Bolton, Hannah, etc.) may think that Iran's reaction to this declaration of war will be submission to their will but IMO that is very unlikely. IMO it is more likely that the IRGC will absorb the new reality and will prepare for war with the US. Iran and its military have long prepared for war with the United States. There will be no change in anything that its military will do. The first and probably only retaliatory step Iran will take is to designate the U.S. military as a terrorist entity: "If the Revolutionary Guards are placed on America's list of terrorist groups, we will put that country's military on the terror blacklist next to Daesh (Islamic State)," Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, head of parliament's national security committee, said on Twitter. Iran has so far shown restraint whenever the U.S. tried to goad it into a fight. It has left U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq untouched even while the U.S. and Israel attacked Iranian elements. It will not react militarily to Trump's latest provocation. The designation of the IRGC and the counterdesignation of the U.S. military might have some tricky legal consequences. Will sailors of a U.S. Navy ship that unintentionally enters Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf and gets caught be held as terrorists? Will former conscripts of the IRGC who want to travel to the States receive a visa? Should the U.S. attack IRGC forces abroad, Iran will likely respond by asking its foreign proxy forces, like the Hashd al-Shahbi militias in Iraq, to attack U.S. forces abroad. Should the U.S. attack IRGC forces within Iran's borders then all bets are off. There are plenty of U.S. bases and installations in the Middle East that can be reached by Iranian missiles. Posted by b on April 8, 2019 at 10:25 AM | Permalink</s>A U.S. government official added that Iran behaves 'like a mafia organization.'

President Donald Trump officially labeled Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a “foreign terrorist organization” on Monday, which is part of the administration’s attempts to increase pressure on Iran. Per Fox News, the move is the first time that Washington has designated a foreign government entity a terrorist organization.

“This designation is a direct response to an outlaw regime and should surprise no one,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Trump’s designation will impose sanctions on the organization, such as freezes on assets that the IRGC has within United States jurisdictions. In addition, it bans U.S. businesses from working with it and allows the U.S. to prosecute individuals that have supported the organization or deny them entry to the country.

According to Trump, the move is designed to highlight Iran’s actions as dangerous and “fundamentally different” from the actions of other governments.

Per CNN, the move could increase U.S. tension with allies like Iraq, where the IRGC has connections to officials and militias, as well as Lebanon, which backs Hezbollah — a proxy for Iran in their conflict with Israel.

In response, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif suggested that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani place U.S. troops operating under United States Central Command (CENTCOM) onto the country’s list of terrorist groups along with ISIS and al Qaeda.

Pompeo claims that the designation will take effect on April 15.

He added that any business operating in Iran or with companies in the country must be cautious to ensure that they do not violate U.S. sanctions.

According to Brian Hook, a senior policy adviser to Pompeo, the IRGC controls almost 50 percent of Iran’s economy.

Not everyone supports Trump’s move. Some, including Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, suggest that the move will pose risks to U.S. troops stationed in the Middle East. Defense officials claim that U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria often work close to IRGC forces.

But Hook claims that the decision was made in conjunction with all measures necessary to ensure that the designation is enacted as prudently as possible. He added that the U.S. is not deterred by the threats of Iran, who he claims behaves “like a mafia organization.”</s>The United States on Monday designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps a “foreign terrorist organization” in a move to increase pressure on the country that could also have significant military, diplomatic and economic implications throughout the Middle East and beyond.

It is the first time that the U.S. has designated a part of another government as a terrorist organization. The designation could spark Iranian retaliation, as well as potentially open hundreds of foreign companies and business executives to U.S. travel bans and possible prosecution.

“This unprecedented step, led by the Department of State, recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a state sponsor of terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft,” President Donald Trump said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the move is part of an effort to put “maximum pressure” on Iran to end its support for terrorist plots and militant activity that destabilizes the Middle East.

The designation blocks any assets that IRGC entities may have in U.S. jurisdictions and bars Americans from any transactions with it. When it takes effect next week, it will allow the U.S. to deny entry to people found to have provided the Guard with “material support” or prosecute them for sanctions violations. Those could include European and Asian companies and business people who deal with the Guard’s many affiliates.

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“It makes crystal clear the risks of conducting business with, or providing support to, the IRGC,” Trump said. “If you are doing business with the IRGC, you will be bankrolling terrorism.”

Pompeo said the action should serve as a warning to corporate lawyers to ensure any business their companies do in Iran is not with any entity affiliated with the Guard.

The IRGC is a paramilitary organization formed in the wake of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution to defend the government. The force answers only to Iran’s supreme leader, operates independently of the regular military and has vast economic interests across the country.

The U.S. estimates it may control or have a significant influence over up to 50% of the Iranian economy, including non-military sectors such as banking and shipping.

The State Department currently designates more than 60 organizations, including al-Qaida and the Islamic State, Hezbollah and numerous militant Palestinian factions, as “foreign terrorist organizations.” But none of them is a state-run military.

Iran threatened to retaliate for the decision, and shortly after it was announced foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called on President Hassan Rouhani to include Mideast-based U.S. forces on Iran’s own terrorist list, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Zarif also sent a protest note over the U.S. designation to the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which looks after the U.S. interests in Iran.

In addition to potential retaliation, the designation may also complicate U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East.

No waivers or exceptions to the sanctions were announced, meaning U.S. troops and diplomats could be barred from contact with Iraqi or Lebanese authorities who interact with Guard officials or surrogates.

The Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies had raised concerns about the impact of the designation if the move did not allow contact with foreign officials who may have met with or communicated with Guard personnel. Those concerns have in part dissuaded previous administrations from taking the step, which has been considered for more than a decade.

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The U.S. special envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, and the State Department’s counterterrorism coordinator, Nathan Sales, said the decision was reached after consultation with agencies throughout the government but would not say in a news conference if the military or intelligence concerns had been addressed.

“Doing this will not impede our diplomacy,” Hook said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.</s>The Trump administration is designating Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization, taking an unprecedented step as it seems to increase pressure on Iran's regime. The move seems certain to bring a new level of tension between the two countries, as Iran's leaders have said they will retaliate in kind.

Iranian lawmakers have prepared legislation that would label the U.S. military as a terrorist group, according to Iran's state-run IRNA news agency.

President Trump announced the designation Monday morning, in a shift from the decades in which the U.S. has viewed Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism.

"This unprecedented step, led by the Department of State, recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft," Trump said, in a White House statement. "The IRGC is the Iranian government's primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign."

With the designation, anyone who deals with the IRGC could run the risk of facing criminal charges, such as aiding or supporting a terrorist group.

"If you are doing business with the IRGC, you will be bankrolling terrorism," Trump said.

It's the first time the U.S. has declared an element of a foreign government to be a terrorist organization, the Trump administration says.

The White House sees the IRGC as an "active and enthusiastic participant in acts of terror," a senior administration official said, in a background briefing that was held shortly before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to discuss the announcement Monday morning.

Accusing Iran of using the IRGC to try to reshape the Middle East in its favor, another official said the group has amassed too much power and money — which he said it then uses to support attacks on Americans and U.S. assets.

"The Middle East cannot be more stable and peaceful without a weakened IRGC," the official said.

In recent months, the Trump administration has sought to impose "maximum pressure" on Iran's regime, after abandoning the nuclear deal brokered during the Obama administration. Even before news emerged of a possible terrorism designation for the Revolutionary Guard, more than 970 Iranian entities and individuals were already under U.S. sanctions.

But the administration is now taking the rare step of designating another country's military force as a terrorist group.

"In the past, part of the Guard Corps, known as the Quds Force, has been targeted by Washington," NPR's Peter Kenyon reports. "Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that President Trump 'should know better than to be conned into another U.S. disaster.' "

Zarif and other Iranian officials sharply criticized the U.S. plan over the weekend, after news emerged that an official U.S. announcement against the Revolutionary Guard was imminent.

Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, warned that if the U.S. labels his force as a terrorist group, the result would mean the IRGC could target the U.S. military the same way it currently targets ISIS.

"If (the Americans) make such a stupid move, the U.S. Army and American security forces stationed in West Asia [Middle East] will lose their current status of ease and serenity," Jafari said, according to the semi-official FARS News Agency.

"I do not think that the Americans will be that much out of their mind to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization," Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said, according to FARS.

The U.S. designation of the IRGC comes one day before Israel holds a national vote on the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Responding to news of the pending announcement, Zarif said Trump is granting a long-held request from Netanyahu.

When asked about the timing of the designation on Monday, senior administration officials said it had been in the works for months. They also said that in the past, there has been bipartisan U.S. support for declaring the IRGC a terrorist group.

The administration laid out some of its evidence for the move last week, when the State Department's Brian Hook, U.S. Special Representative for Iran, blamed Iran for the deaths of hundreds of American service personnel in Iraq.

"Iran is responsible for the deaths of at least 608 American service members" in Iraq, Hook said, citing U.S. military reports.

"This accounts for 17 percent of all deaths of U.S. personnel in Iraq from 2003 to 2011," Hook said. "This death toll is in addition to the many thousands of Iraqis killed by the IRGC's proxies."

Hook also accused Iran of causing widespread problems, saying it supports the Hezbollah in Lebanon and Palestinian groups such as Hamas, and backs the Houthi military insurgency in Yemen — where Iran has been engaged in a proxy war with Saudi Arabia.</s>Trump: US designates Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps a 'foreign terrorist organization' in new pressure effort

WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump: US designates Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps a 'foreign terrorist organization' in new pressure effort.</s>WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Monday that the U.S. is designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a “foreign terrorist organization,” in an effort to increase pressure on the country that could have significant diplomatic implications in the Middle East.

It is the first time that the U.S. has designated a part of another government as a terrorist organization.

The designation imposes sanctions that include freezes on assets the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may have in U.S. jurisdictions and a ban on Americans doing business with it.

“This unprecedented step, led by the Department of State, recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft,” Trump said in a statement.

Iran has threatened to retaliate for the decision.

The IRGC is a paramilitary organization formed in the wake of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution to defend its clerically overseen government. The force answers only to Iran’s supreme leader, operates independently of the regular military and has vast economic interests across the country.

The designation allows the U.S. to deny entry to people found to have provided the Guard with material support or prosecute them for sanctions violations. That could include European and Asian companies and business people who deal with the Guard’s many affiliates.

It will also complicate diplomacy. Without exclusions or waivers to the designation, U.S. troops and diplomats could be barred from contact with Iraqi or Lebanese authorities who interact with Guard officials or surrogates.

The Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies have raised concerns about the impact of the designation if the move does not allow contact with foreign officials who may have met with or communicated with Guard personnel. Those concerns have in part dissuaded previous administrations from taking the step, which has been considered for more than a decade.

The department currently designates 60 groups, such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State and their various affiliates, Hezbollah and numerous militant Palestinian factions, as “foreign terrorist organizations.” But none of them is a state-run military.</s>President Donald Trump announced Monday that the U.S. is designating Iran's Revolutionary Guard a 'foreign terrorist organization,' in an effort to increase pressure on the country that could have significant diplomatic implications in the Middle East.

It is the first time that the U.S. has designated a part of another government as a terrorist organization.

The designation imposes sanctions that include freezes on assets the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may have in U.S. jurisdictions and a ban on Americans doing business with it.

'This unprecedented step, led by the Department of State, recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft,' Trump said in a statement.

Iran has threatened to retaliate for the decision.

The IRGC is a paramilitary organization formed in the wake of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution to defend its clerically overseen government. The force answers only to Iran's supreme leader, operates independently of the regular military and has vast economic interests across the country.

The designation allows the U.S. to deny entry to people found to have provided the Guard with material support or prosecute them for sanctions violations. That could include European and Asian companies and businesspeople who deal with the Guard's many affiliates.

It will also complicate diplomacy. Without exclusions or waivers to the designation, U.S. troops and diplomats could be barred from contact with Iraqi or Lebanese authorities who interact with Guard officials or surrogates.

The Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies have raised concerns about the impact of the designation if the move does not allow contact with foreign officials who may have met with or communicated with Guard personnel. Those concerns have in part dissuaded previous administrations from taking the step, which has been considered for more than a decade.

The department currently designates 60 groups, such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State and their various affiliates, Hezbollah and numerous militant Palestinian factions, as 'foreign terrorist organizations.' But none of them is a state-run military.

The move is intended to further isolate Iran and could have widespread implications for U.S. personnel and policy in the Middle East and elsewhere, including in Israel, where embattled prime minister and Trump ally Benjamin Neyanyahu will stand for reelection tomorrow.

A U.S. official told reporters on a call that the policy is a result of 'robust inter-agency' process and and cited terror strikes around the globe that have killed Americans as a reason for immediate action.

'Our ability, our willingness rather, to give them plausible deniability just came to a close,' a senior official said of the announcement.

The official said the designation is something that President Trump has 'long wanted to enact' and insisted that the Iranians 'forced our hand' with their decades-long involvement in terror plots, in response to an allegation that policy announcement was intended as an election eve boost to Netanyahu.

The Trump administration has escalated rhetoric against Iran for months, but this will mark the first such designation by any American administration of an entire foreign government entity. Portions of the Guard, notably its elite Quds Force, have been targeted previously by the United States.

Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, seemed to anticipate the designation, saying in a tweet Sunday aimed at President Donald Trump that Trump 'should know better than to be conned into another US disaster.'

This would be just the latest move by the Trump administration to isolate Iran. Trump withdrew from the Obama administration's landmark nuclear deal with Iran in May 2018 and, in the months that followed, reimposed punishing sanctions including those targeting Iran's oil, shipping and banking sectors.

The Revolutionary Guard designation, planning for which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, comes with sanctions, including freezes on assets the Guard may have in U.S. jurisdictions and a ban on Americans doing business with it or providing material support for its activities.

Although the Guard has broad control and influence over the Iranian economy, such penalties from the U.S. may have limited impact. The designation, however, could significantly complicate U.S. military and diplomatic work, notably in Iraq, where many Shiite militias and Iraqi political parties have close ties to the Guard. And in Lebanon, where the Guard has close ties to Hezbollah, which is part of the Lebanese government.

Without exclusions or waivers to the designation, U.S. troops and diplomats could be barred from contact with Iraqi or Lebanese authorities who interact with Guard officials or surrogates.

The Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies have raised concerns about the impact of the designation if the move does not allow contact with foreign officials who may have met with or communicated with Guard personnel. Those concerns have in part dissuaded previous administrations from taking the step, which has been considered for more than a decade.

It was not immediately clear whether the designation would include such carve-outs.

In addition to those complications, American commanders are concerned that the designation may prompt Iran to retaliate against U.S. forces in the region, and those commanders plan to warn U.S. troops remaining in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere of that possibility, according to a third U.S. official. This official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Aside from Iraq, where some 5,200 American troops are stationed, and Syria, where some U.S. 2,000 troops remain, the U.S. 5th Fleet, which operates in the Persian Gulf from its base in Bahrain, and the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, are potentially at risk.

A similar warning is also expected from the State Department of possible Iranian retaliation against American interests, including embassies and consulates, and anti-American protests, the first two U.S. officials said. Similar alerts were issued at the start of the Iraq War in 2003 and more recently when the Trump administration announced it would recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Despite the risks, Iran hard-liners on Capitol Hill, such as Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and elsewhere have long advocated for the designation. They say it will send an important message to Iran as well as deal it a further blow after Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed economic sanctions.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton have taken up the call and have in recent months spoken stridently about Iran and its 'malign activities' in the region.

Pompeo has made clear in public comments that pressure on Tehran will only increase until it changes its behavior. Just last week, Pompeo's special representative for Iran, Brian Hook, accused Iran and its proxies of being responsible for the death of 608 U.S. troops in Iraq between 2003 and 2011. He cited newly declassified Defense Department information for the claim, which is expected to be used in the justification for the Guard designation.

'Secretary Pompeo will continue to use all the tools at our disposal to press the regime to change its destructive policies for the benefit of peace in the region and for the sake of its own people, who are the longest-suffering victims of this regime,' Hook said, in an indication that new action is coming.

The department currently designates 60 groups, such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State and their various affiliates, Hezbollah and numerous militant Palestinian factions, as 'foreign terrorist organizations.' But none of them is a state-run military.

Once a designation is announced by the secretary of state in coordination with the Treasury secretary, Congress has seven days to review it. If there are no objections, it then will take effect.</s>US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces that the US will designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organisation during a press conference at the State Department in Washington, DC, on Monday (AFP photo)

WASHINGTON/DUBAI — US President Donald Trump on Monday branded Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organisation, an unprecedented step that raises the spectre of retaliation from Tehran in an increasingly tense Middle East.

It is the first time the United States has formally labelled another country's military a terrorist group.

"The IRGC is the Iranian government's primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign," Trump said in a statement.

Iran immediately condemned the decision as an illegal act prompted by Tehran's regional influence and "success in fighting against Islamic State," according to state television.

Tensions between the two countries have grown since Trump pulled the United States out of a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran last May and reimposed sanctions that had crippled Iran’s economy. Trump said the accord did not address Iran’s ballistic missile activity or what he saw as its malign influence in the region.

Set up after the 1979 Islamic Revolution with the mission of protecting the Shiite clerical ruling system, the IRGC is Iran’s most powerful security organisation and has a huge influence in its political system, controlling large swathes of the economy and the armed forces.

The IRGC’s involvement in Iran’s banking and shipping industries could complicate matters with US allies, including the European Union, which is setting up a new mechanism to facilitate payments for Iranian exports. It was not immediately clear how Monday’s move would impact Europe’s trade ties with Iran.

Those who do business with the guards could now receive up to 20 years in prison and be barred from entering or doing business in the United States.

The action on Monday “makes crystal clear the risks of conducting business with, or providing support to, the IRGC”, Trump said. “If you are doing business with the IRGC, you will be bankrolling terrorism.”

After reports of the planned US designation emerged on Friday, Iranian lawmakers warned Tehran will take reciprocal action.

Critics have warned the US action could open US military and intelligence officials to similar moves by unfriendly governments.

The United States has already blacklisted dozens of entities and people for affiliations with the IRGC, but not the organisation as a whole.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a strident critic of Iran, has pushed for the change in US policy as part of the Trump administration’s tough posture toward Tehran.

The US action against the entire IRGC had been debated in the Trump administration for months as Washington sought additional ways to pressure Iran and curtail its growing influence in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

“This designation is a direct response to an outlaw regime and should surprise no one,” Pompeo said. The designation comes into effect next Monday.

In 2017, IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari warned that if Trump went ahead with labelling the group as terrorist “then the revolutionary guards will consider the American army to be like Islamic State [Daesh] all around the world”.

Such threats are particularly ominous for US forces in places such as Iraq, where Iran-aligned Shiite militia are located in close proximity to US troops.

The State Department said on Monday that the guards have been engaged in terrorist activity since the group’s inception, including the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 Americans, and a foiled plan to attack the Saudi ambassador to the United States on US soil. It cited what it said were IRGC terrorist plans that had been uncovered in Europe and Africa.

Some critics of the Trump administration’s move believe it was timed ahead of the Israeli election on Tuesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump for taking the action in a Twitter post. Iran and Israel are increasingly at odds with each other, particularly in Syria where the revolutionary guards’ Quds Force has helped President Bashar Assad gain the upper hand in a civil war.

After reports of the designation emerged late on Friday, Iranian lawmakers warned Tehran will take reciprocal action.

The IRGC is in charge of Iran’s ballistic missiles and nuclear programmes. Tehran has warned that it has missiles with a range of up to 2,000km, putting Israel and US military bases in the region within reach.

The IRGC’s economic footprint grew under Iranian former president and ex-guard Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from 2005. Soon after the United States, EU and the United Nations imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil and finance sectors in 2012, the IRGC took up the businesses of the European oil firms that were been forced to leave.

Iran’s clerical rulers rewarded the group for sanctions-busting as well as suppressing dissent at home and helping Tehran’s allies abroad — notably Syria’s Assad.

However, in recent years much of the IRGC’s business has been conducted through front companies, many of them not even formally owned by the corps, but by people and firms linked to it.

Previous administrations have considered expanding the designation to the entire group, but decided that the risk to US forces overseas was too great, according to former US officials.

The Pentagon declined to discuss what the US military was doing to protect its troops from any retaliation by the IRGC or Iran-aligned militia in places like Iraq. US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, assured that the US military was taking all necessary steps and had alerted US military commanders prior to the announcement.

The announcement comes ahead of a May 2 deadline by the United States on whether or not to extend oil waivers to eight importers of Iranian oil.

Reducing the number of waivers will limit oil exports from Iran, the fourth-largest producer in OPEC, but the United States is unlikely to meet an earlier target of driving Iranian oil exports to zero.
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces the designation of the entirety of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), effective April 15. This will be the first time the United States has designated a part of another government as a terrorist organization.