U.S. declares Iran Revolutionary Guard a terror group

President Donald Trump announced Monday he will designate the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a “foreign terrorist organization,” the first time the United States has given the label to a foreign government entity. The Revolutionary Guard, directly controlled by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, acts as a domestic paramilitary force to defend the Islamic regime. The designation will freeze the organization’s assets and prohibit Americans from doing business with the group. Anyone who has supported the Revolutionary Guard could be deported from the United States or barred from entering.

The move is the latest action by the United States against the Islamic regime. In May 2018, the Trump administration withdrew from a global nuclear pact with Iran and later reimposed sanctions on the country.

Iranian officials vowed to respond to the terror designation. In a statement published on Sunday by the state-run IRNA news agency, a majority of Iranian lawmakers warned of “reciprocal action.” “With this stupidity, the American army and security forces will no longer have today’s calm in the West Asia region,” Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Mohammad Ali Jafari said, according to the Fars news agency.