LONDON: Iran told the United States on Tuesday that it will keep “all options on table” if President Donald Trump designates its elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.
It came a day after the government said Washington itself would be aiding terrorism if it took such an action.
US President Donald Trump is expected to announce this week his final decision on how he wants to contain Iran’s regional influence. He is also expected to designate Iran’s most powerful security force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp. as a terrorist organization.
US sanctions on the IRGC could affect conflicts in Iraq and Syria, where Tehran and Washington support warring parties that oppose the Daesh militant group.
“The Americans ... are too small to be able to harm the Revolutionary Guards,” Ali Akbar Velayati, the top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying by ISNA.
“We have all options on the table. Whatever they do, we will take reciprocal measures,” he added.
Iranian government spokesman also said that the world should be “thankful” to the Revolutionary Guards for its fight against Daesh and other terrorist groups.
“By taking a stance against the Revolutionary Guards and designating it a terrorist group, the Americans would be joining the terrorists’ camp,” Mohammad Baqer Nobakht said in a weekly news conference broadcast live on state television.
Trump is expected to “decertify” a landmark 2015 deal Iran struck with world powers to curb its nuclear program in return for the lifting of most international sanctions.
Trump’s announcement would stop short of pulling out of the agreement but give Congress 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions.
IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said on Sunday that if Washington designated the Guards a terrorist organization, they “will consider the American army to be like Islamic State all around the world.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said on Monday that Tehran would give a “firm, decisive and crushing” response if the United States goes ahead with such a plan.
Iran has “all options on table” if US blacklists Revolutionary Guards
Iran has “all options on table” if US blacklists Revolutionary Guards
Yemen anti-terror forces display confiscated STC explosives and equipment used
RIYADH: Yemeni anti-terrorism forces, trained and equipped by Saudi Arabia, show confiscated explosives and equipment belonging to the now dissolved UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Mukalla.
Earlier today, Salam Al-Khanbashi, the governor of Hadhramaut, suggested the United Arab Emirates played an alarming role in Yemen and the largest of its 21 governorates.
In a televised press conference yesterday, Al-Khanbashi accused the UAE of having exploited the coalition working to restore legitimate government in Yemen “to achieve its own agenda.”
He also claimed that the citizens of Hadhramaut had been killed, terrorised and tortured by armed groups affiliated with STC leader Maj. Gen. Aidarous Al-Zubaidi, who is backed by the UAE and earlier this month was sacked as vice-president of the country’s Presidential Leadership Council (PLC).
