Iran declared the United States a “state sponsor of terrorism” and its forces in the region “terror groups”, in a tit-for-tat response to a similar US move on Monday. The Supreme National Security Council said its decision came after the US designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a “terrorist organization”.
“AN ILLEGAL AND FOOLISH ACT”
In a statement carried by the official news agency IRNA, it slammed Washington’s move as an “illegal and foolish act”. In return, it “declares that it considers the regime of the US a ‘state sponsor of terrorism’ and ‘the Central Command of America, known as CENTCOM’ and all forces related to it ‘terrorist groups’,” the statement said.
“The IRGC unlike America and its regional allies who have always supported extremist and terrorist groups in West Asia region, have always been in the frontline of fighting terrorism and extremism in the region,” the council added.
“A DANGEROUS US MISADVENTURE”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Zarif tweeted that Trump’s designation is just “A misguided election-eve gift to Netanyahu. A dangerous US misadventure in the region.”
“No other country has the legal right to designate as terrorist another country’s armed forces… Iran’s influence in the Middle East and its success in fighting against Islamic State are reasons behind this designation,” state TV said, without quoting a specific official.
Trump’s move is the first time that the US has designated a part of another government as a terrorist organization.