President Donald Trump on Monday announced the United States is designating Iran's elite military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a terrorist organization.
Trump said in a statement that the "unprecedented" move "recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft."
"Businesses and banks around the world now have a clear duty to ensure that companies with which they conduct financial transactions are not conducted with the IRGC in any material way."
A senior Trump administration official said the new measure would criminalize contact with the Guards and "enable our prosecutors to bring charges to those that bring material support to the IRGC."
Another official said the Guards have "been a principal driver of violence on a vast scale for many decades" in an attempt "to reshape the Middle East in Iran's favor."
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