The Trump Administration is considering labeling a branch of the Iranian military as a terrorist organization.
Looking to double-down on a recent round of anti-Iran measures, the Trump White House is reportedly considering labeling a branch of the Iranian military, the Revolutionary Guards, a “terrorist organization.”
Details are still emerging, with officials saying that several government agencies have been consulted about the possibility of the move, which would expand sanctions against terrorists to the Revolutionary Guards and by extension to those linked to them.
That has potentially huge implications, as the Revolutionary Guard has large stakes in a lot of major companies across Iran, and those companies would likely be facing new sanctions of their own for being partly owned by a US-designated terrorist organization.
In addition to companies, the Revolutionary Guard has ties to a lot of Shi’ite militias across the region, including many of the Iraqi militias involved in the war against ISIS. The designation would necessarily preclude the US from cooperating with those militias, which would restrict US involvement in major Iraqi offensives, which virtually always have a substantial militia component.
Ultimately such a move would also been seen as a major roll-back of the sanctions the US removed under the P5+1 deal, and reimposing them under such a pretext would likely fuel a major backlash internationally, as many of the nations involved in the deal have expressed concern about the US trying to unilaterally reverse course.