The Pentagon’s top general said Thursday he was opposed to removing theelite Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards from the USlinklink grouplist, one of Tehran’s conditions for restoring the 2015 Iran nuclearagreement.
“In my personal opinion, I believe the IRGC Quds Force to be a terroristorganization, and I do not support them being delisted from the foreignterrorist organization list,” Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milleytold a congressional hearing.
Iran has pressed for the removal of the State Department’s official”Foreign Terrorist Organization” designation of the Islamic RevolutionaryGuard Corps as a condition for returning to the 2015 deal that sought tocontrol its nuclear development and prevent it from acquiring a nuclearweapons capability.
The previous US link administration of DonaldTrump unilaterally abrogated the deal in 2018 and a year later slapped theFTO label on the Guards.
President Joe Biden has sought in negotiations to salvage the JointComprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, as the 2015 deal is officiallycalled.
But talks have stalled in the past month over a handful of final issues,including Iran’s demand over the terror linkdesignation.
The talks are led by the State Department and Milley and the Pentagon arenot directly involved.
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It was not clear whether Milley was suggesting an alternative of keepingthe Quds Force designated while dropping the broader Revolutionary Guardsfrom the list.
In a statement on the original designation, the State Department said: “TheIRGC — most prominently through its Quds Force — has the greatest roleamong Iran’s actors in directing and carrying out a global terroristcampaign.”
It singled out specific acts by the Quds Force, including attemptedbombings and assassinations inside the United States and other countries.
Privately, US link officials have said removingthe terror link designation would not havemuch concrete impact, because the IRGC remains under a long list ofeconomic and political sanctions. -APP/AFP
