Tehran – Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Monday declared theUnited States a “state sponsor of terrorism” and US forces in the region”terrorist groups”, state media said.
In a statement carried by the official news agency IRNA, it said the movewas in response to the United States designating Iran’s IslamicRevolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a “terrorist organisation”.
The council slammed Washington’s move as an “illegal and foolish act”.
In response, it “declares that it considers the regime of the USA a ‘statesponsor of terrorism’ and ‘the Central Command of America, known asCENTCOM’ and all forces related to it ‘terrorist groups’,” the statementsaid.
Part of America’s vast military presence around the globe, CENTCOM’s areaof command covers multiple war zones and hotspots including Afghanistan,Iraq, Syria, Yemen and the Gulf.
Iran’s top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif had earlier urged President HassanRouhani to place CENTCOM forces on Tehran’s list of terror groups, hisministry said.
Zarif blasted the US move on Twitter, saying it was timed to supportIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Tuesday’s parliamentaryelection in the Jewish state.
“A(nother) misguided election-eve gift to Netanyahu. A(nother) dangerousU.S. misadventure in the region,” he wrote.
Read Top Stories
The US decision came as part of already far-reaching attempts to underminethe Iranian government.
President Donald Trump said the “unprecedented” move “recognises thereality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that theIRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a toolof statecraft.”
“The IRGC is the Iranian government’s primary means of directing andimplementing its global terrorist campaign,” Trump said in a statement.
It is the first time the United States has applied the designation to partof a foreign government, rather than guerrilla groups or other informalentities.
The move follows Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of amultilateral deal with Iran that was meant to lift crippling economicsanctions in return curbs on Tehran’s nuclear programme. – APP/AFP
