Today, March 23rd, 2022, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-02) joined over 80 House Republicans, led by Rep. Scott Franklin (FL-15), in a letter urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to keep Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the designated list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). The letter comes in response to news reports that the Biden Administration is considering removing the IRGC’s FTO designation as part of a new nuclear deal with Iran.
“For years the IRGC has supported and participated in numerous human rights abuses and terrorist activities. They should not be removed from the FTO list until they can prove that they have ceased ALL terrorist activity,” said Miller-Meeks. “We should only be lifting FTO designations if Iran drastically changes their well-documented support for terrorist groups around the world. By removing the IRGC when it continues to engage in and support acts of terror tells the world that our sanctions carry no weight and are nothing more than political tools that can be cast aside whenever it is convenient.”
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is one of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world today,” said Franklin. “Through its sponsorship of terrorism, the IRGC is responsible for the deaths of countless innocent people and at least 600 U.S. troops. It has consistently sought the destruction of our partners and allies in the region, most notably Israel, and has been an obstacle to peace in the Middle East for decades. The Biden administration simply cannot reward this terrorist regime with any sort of legitimacy from the U.S. government.”
Background:
Created following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ primary responsibility is to protect the Iranian regime from internal and external threats. It has actively funded and supported several militant and terrorist groups including Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Houthi insurgency in Yemen.
The IRGC has significant control over Iran’s foreign policy and controls segments of the country’s economy, which it uses to fund its operations. It was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2019 because it “participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft.”
U.S. forces killed IRGC leader Qassem Soleimani in 2020 in an effort to deter future IRGC attack plans against U.S. interests. According to a Pentagon report, the IRGC killed more than 600 U.S. troops during the occupation of Iraq while under Soleimani’s command.
Original source can be found here
