In response to the United States designating Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a "foreign terrorist organisation," Iran's Foreign Minister on Monday retaliated suggesting enlisting US Central Command (CENTCOM) in its terror list.
In a letter to Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif highlighted the US forces' alleged support to terrorist groups in the region, and " their direct interference in terror activities," according to Iranian state media.
He added that Iran's National Security Council, headed by Rouhani, should enlist the US forces, in accordance with the 'Bill Against US Adventurist and Terrorist Activities in the Region'.
US Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, on Monday announced IRGC's designation and said: "The use of terrorism is central to the Iranian regime's foreign policy. The designation of IRGC, including Qods Force will help starve the regime of the means to execute this destructive policy. Maximum pressure will be unrelenting until Iran's regime abandons its deadly ambitions."
This is the first time the United States has designated another country's governmental entity as a terror body. The designation makes it illegal to provide any materials to Iran's paramilitary organisation formed in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution to defend its government.
"This is just another chapter, there are more chapters to come...This was long overdue," a US official said during Monday's media briefing.
The CENTCOM, established in 1983, focuses on protecting the US' national interests and those of its partners in 20 nations in the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and the strategic waterways that surround them.
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