US choice on IRGC to face clear-cut, firm response
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi described US recent decision to blacklist IRGC forces as a 'strategic error' and 'a serious development' between Tehran and Washington and said it will face firm and clear-cut response.
Speaking in an interview with Iranian national TV, Araqchi referred to the US threats in the Persian Gulf, saying the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps is in charge of safeguarding the statrategic waterway.
New incidents may happen, he reiterated.
Araqchi went on to say that US has passed one of the basic redlines of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Pointing to the rapid response of the Iranian Foreign Ministry and the Supreme National Security Council to US act, he said the Foreign Ministry's act is in line with implementing Iranian Parliament's mission to blacklist US sponsors of terrorism by the Supreme National Security Council.
He added that the Iranian Foreign Ministry has suggested the Supreme National Security Council to blacklist US Central Command called CENTCOM for their support of terrorists and also for war crimes.
Araqchi reiterated that CENTCOM staffs are directly and indirectly responsible for the crimes in Syria, Yemen, Palestine and for supporting ISIS terrorists.
Stressing the fact that US act may have various consequences, he said US forces will not be regarded as American soldiers anymore but they as well as their bases will be considered as terrorists and terrorist positions.
Iran had earlier sent its message to US through Switzerland that is they blacklist IRGC, Tehran will reciprocate and US should shoulder its responsibility.
He noted that US recent choice is a strategic and political mistake.
The United States has been plotting anti-Iran measures for forty years now, but the Iranian nation has stood against these measures and will strongly support the IRGC forces.
On Monday, Trump administration designated Iran’s IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization.
Earlier in a letter to President Hassan Rouhani who also heads the Supreme National Security Council, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested that this council to enlist the US Central Command (CENTCOM) in its terror list.
The US Central Command is responsible for defending and promoting US interests in 20 nations in the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and the strategic waterways that surround them.
Zarif in its letter referred to the US military forces' covert and open support for the terrorist groups in the region and their direct interference in terror activities and offered the
Supreme National Security Council to enlist CENTCOM in its terror list according to the Iranian parliament's 'Bill Against US Adventurist and Terrorist Activities in the Region”.