IRAN: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), The Machinery of Terrorism
Why Tehran Wants the IRGC Off U.S. Terror List
On Thursday, March 10, 2022, the U.S. Representative Office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI-US), released its new book, entitled ‘Iran: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), The Machinery of Terrorism.’
The press coverages of the report are shown below.
The report provides a compelling argument why the IRGC belongs to the US Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) list and why Tehran persistently demands its exclusion from it. The report is organized into six chapters.
Key Findings of the Report
1. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and its extraterritorial arm, the Quds Force (IRGC-QF) continue to sponsor and fund terrorism. The fiscal year (starting March 2022) shows a 240% increase in the budget allocated to the IRGC. This is in addition to special funds directly controlled by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, which would help fund terrorism by the IRGC-QF.
2. IRGC-QF has stepped up its terror operations in the region, especially after the 2018 uprisings in Iran, to make up for its lack of popular support, and in order to project power and cover its fundamental weakness inside Iran.
3. Since the 2019 designation of the IRGC and the IRGC-QF as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), the stepped-up terror operations have proven that the well-warranted designations need to remain in place.
4. The IRGC smuggles UAVs abroad for its proxies to ignite war and terrorism. The UAV Command under the IRGC Aerospace Force has various UAV centers across Iran, used for training and utilization of the UAVs. The IRGC has used drones, much like its missile program, as an instrument to instigate terrorism to keep theocracy in power.
5. The IRGC-QF has been recruiting mercenaries for newly created, armed, and trained terrorist units to attack ships and maritime targets in the region. Naval terrorist attacks directly and indirectly by the IRGC have increased since 2019.
6. The Quds Force has set up a smuggling network to provide weapons and has equipped the Houthis with speedboats, missiles, and mines to expand conflicts into the Arabian Sea, Bab al-Mandab, and the Red Sea. Many terrorist operations in this region targeting foreign and Arab ships have been carried out by these proxy naval units.
7. In 2021, and more so since Ebrahim Raisi took office as president, Tehran has stepped up its maritime terrorist operations using its foreign mercenaries, especially the Houthis.
8. Tehran has recently stepped-up terror plots on U.S. soil. The commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, has openly threatened the US officials with violence. According to a Justice Department official, at least two Iranians belonging to the IRGC-QF have been plotting to assassinate former national security adviser John Bolton.
9. The continued offers of concessions by Western countries and lack of accountability for the regime’s terrorism, have emboldened Tehran to step up its terrorism in the region.
10. Since 2018, there have been eight major uprisings, as well as successive protests by various sectors of Iranian society seeking fundamental change. Yet, the Iranian regime has been investing lavish amounts of money and resources for training, funding, and arming proxies, while a vast majority of the Iranian people live below the poverty line.
11. Tehran’s repeated demands during the Vienna talks for lifting sanctions on the IRGC, Supreme Leader Khamenei, and other officials involved in decades of terrorism, aims to provide additional resources to these entities for funding terrorism in the region.
12. The vast monopoly of the Supreme Leader and the IRGC over the Iranian economy, means doing business with Iran is doing business with Khamenei and the IRGC.
13. The disastrous economic situation – unemployment, inflation, near-destruction of the manufacturing sector, wide-scale corruption, stagnant wages, are not going to be resolved by sanctions relief. On the contrary, the empowered IRGC would exert more pressure on the population and suppress them more, while funding terror proxies.
14. Removing the terrorism designation (FTO) of the IRGC, as demanded by the Iranian regime, would send a wrong signal to the regime, as well as its victim. Instead of holding the regime accountable for its stepped-up terrorism, once again, the West would be rewarding the regime for its terrorism, leading to even more violence.
15. Given the behavior of the Iranian regime which heavily relies on the IRGC to carry out terrorism in the countries of the region, none of the sanctions against the regime should be lifted. On The contrary, additional sanctions are particularly warranted for the regime’s escalation of violence and terrorism in the region.
Press Coverage
Fox News, Thursday, March 10, 2022: Iranian dissidents warn that removing IRGC’s terror designation will lead to ‘terrorism and mayhem’
A top Iranian resistance group is warning that any move to take the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps off the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list will “heighten terrorism and mayhem” in the region, amid fears the Biden administration will make such a move as part of negotiations to bring Iran back into the 2015 nuclear deal. READ MORE…
The Washington Times – Thursday, March 10, 2022: Dissident group to Biden: Trump was right to list Iran’s IRGC as terrorist organization
A key Iranian dissident group is calling on the Biden administration not to remove Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organizations list, amid reports that Tehran is demanding the delisting as a condition for participating in nuclear talks. READ MORE …
