Iran has lived up to its threat by responding to an announcement by US President Donald Trump: If the US calls the Iranian Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization last week, the head of the National Security Committee tweeted, "we'll blacklist that country's military put". Now, Iran declared the US "state sponsor of terrorism," according to the state media
Previously, Donald Trump had announced in a statement to classify the elite unit of the Shiite theocracy as a foreign terrorist organization. The measure aims to stop financial aid to the guards, who are far more important in Iran than a classic army.
The move further aggravates the US government's course toward Iran, which it considers a "rogue regime." Trump described the paramilitary guards as the "main tool" of the Iranian government in their "global terror campaign". With the new measure, his government is significantly expanding its course of "maximum pressure" on Tehran. According to Trump, the classification as a "terrorist organization" also concerns the elite unit of the Revolutionary Guards, the Al-Kuds Brigades.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Jawad Sarif criticized on Twitter that the move was another "gift" to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of parliamentary elections in the country this Tuesday.
He welcomed the US decision and thanked his "dear friend Donald Trump" for it. He said that Trump had fulfilled one of his demands, which was in the interests of the two countries and of other countries in the region. Netanyahu and Trump are considered close political allies.
Sarif said on Monday, according to the Irna state news agency, that the US Central Command Centcom, which leads the US troops in the Middle East, to put on Iran's terrorist list. Irna reported that Sarif had also sent a protest letter to the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, representing US interests in Iran.