IRGC to stay on terror list
"I laud the US administration, and first and foremost my friend, President Joe Biden, on his intention to leave the Revolutionary Guards where they belong – on the terror list."
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett revealed on Tuesday that US President Joe Biden updated him last month on his final decision to keep Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organisation’s list.
Biden notified Bennett of the decision during the last phone call the two held in April, the premier said in a statement from his office.
An official familiar with the matter confirmed Bennett’s account, saying Biden had asked the Prime Minister not to publicise his decision, as Washington still hopes to reach an agreement with Iran on a joint return to compliance with the multilateral nuclear accord known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Talks in Vienna to restore the JCPOA have reached a dead end over the issue.
Bennett only issued his statement after Politico published a report on Tuesday citing a senior Western official, who confirmed that Biden had made a final decision on the matter.
The official familiar with the matter, who spoke with The Times of Israel, said the Israeli Prime Minister also coordinated his Tuesday response with the White House ahead of time.
“I laud the US administration, and first and foremost my friend, President Joe Biden, on his intention to leave the Revolutionary Guards where they belong – on the terror list,” Bennett said on Tuesday.
He added that the IRGC is “the world’s largest terror organisation, involved in directing and executing deadly terror attacks and destabilising the Middle East”.
Biden’s decision is thus “correct, moral and just”, he said.
Meanwhile, thousands of mourners poured into the streets of Tehran on Tuesday to pay their respects to a senior Revolutionary Guard member fatally shot by two gunmen earlier this week, punching the air with their fists and chanting “Death to Israel.”
The killing on Sunday of Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei bore the hallmarks of previous deadly shooting attacks in Iran blamed on Israel, such as those targeting the country’s nuclear scientists.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack. Iranian officials have blamed “global arrogance”, which is code for the United States and Israel.
President Ebrahim Raisi warned on Monday that Iran will avenge the killing.
“I insist on the serious pursuit (of the killers) by security officials, and I have no doubt that the blood of this great martyr will be avenged,” Raisi said.
TIMES OF ISRAEL, AP, AGENCIES
comments