JEDDAH: Washington's blacklisting of Iran's notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is "an urgent and necessary step to end war and terrorism throughout the region and the world," the Iranian resistance said on Monday.
"This action, which was long overdue, should now be completed by designating the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS),” the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said in a statement.
In a first, US President Donald Trump on Monday designated the IRGC as a "terrorist organization", saying the move “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 IRGC is the Iranian government’s primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign,” Trump had said.
Fighters of Iran's notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with the "terrorist" label are shown in a video posted on the website of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
NRCI president-elect Maryam Rajavi described the US action as a "long-standing and righteous demand" of the Iranian Resistance and "an imperative for Middle East security, peace, and stability."
The IRGC "constitutes the pillar of the velayat-e faqih regime (absolute clerical rule), is the main apparatus of repression, the primary driver of war and export of terrorism, and responsible for pursuing nuclear weapons and missile projects," Rajavi said.
She said the terrorist organization "controls the lion’s share of the Iran's economy".
National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) president-elect Maryam Rajavi. (Courtesy of NCRI site)
"It is no wonder that the religious fascism ruling Iran, its apologists and mercenaries have become terrified of IRGC’s designation," she said.
The NCRI said it is time for the European Union to follow suit by designating the IRGC also as a terrorist entity, pointing out that the Iranian regime has caused so much bloodshed in other countries such as Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Afghanistan.
Such designation would help the Iranian people and the Resistance achieve "the ultimate solution to rid the world of the ruling theocracy in Iran", the movement said.
