U.S. to move on Iran"™s Revolutionary Guard
Administration will designate group as "˜global terrorist"™
The United States has decided to designate
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country's 125,000-strong elite military branch, as a "specially designated global terrorist," according to U.S. officials, a move that allows Washington to target the group's business operations and finances.
The
Bush administration has chosen to move against the Revolutionary Guard Corps because of what U.S. officials have described as its growing involvement in
Iraq and
Afghanistan as well as its support for extremists throughout the
Middle East, the sources said. The decision follows congressional pressure on the administration to toughen its stance against
Tehran, as well as U.S. frustration with the ineffectiveness of
U.N. resolutions against
Iran's nuclear program, officials said.
The designation of the Revolutionary Guard will be made under Executive Order 13224, which
President Bush signed two weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to obstruct terrorist funding. It authorizes the United States to identify individuals, businesses, charities and extremist groups engaged in terrorist activities. The Revolutionary Guard would be the first national military branch included on the list, U.S. officials said -- a highly unusual move because it is part of a government, rather than a typical non-state terrorist organization.
The order allows the United States to block the assets of terrorists and to disrupt operations by foreign businesses that "provide support, services or assistance to, or otherwise associate with, terrorists."
Growing tensions
The move reflects escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran over issues including Iraq and Iran's nuclear ambitions. Iran has been on the
State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1984, but in May the two countries began their first formal one-on-one dialogue in 28 years with a meeting of diplomats in
Baghdad.
The main goal of the new designation is to clamp down on the Revolutionary Guard's vast business network, as well as on foreign companies conducting business linked to the military unit and its personnel. The administration plans to list many of the Revolutionary Guard's financial operations.
"Anyone doing business with these people will have to reevaluate their actions immediately," said a U.S. official familiar with the plan who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the decision has not been announced. "It increases the risks of people who have until now ignored the growing list of sanctions against the Iranians. It makes clear to everyone who the IRGC and their related businesses really are. It removes the excuses for doing business with these people."
For weeks, the Bush administration has been debating whether to target the Revolutionary Guard Corps in full, or only its
Quds Force wing, which U.S. officials have linked to the growing flow of explosives, roadside bombs, rockets and other arms to Shiite militias in Iraq and the
Taliban in Afghanistan. The Quds Force also lends support to Shiite allies such as
Lebanon's Hezbollah and to Sunni movements such as
Hamas and the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Although administration discussions continue, the initial decision is to target the entire Guard Corps, U.S. officials said. The administration has not yet decided when to announce the new measure, but officials said they would prefer to do so before the meeting of the
U.N. General Assembly next month, when the United States intends to increase international pressure against Iran.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20269253/
Bush designates Iran's "Revolutionary Guard" as Global Terrorists
