WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – The Pentagon’s top general said Thursday he was opposed to removing the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) from the U.S. terror group list, one of Tehran’s conditions for restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.
“In my personal opinion, I believe the IRGC Quds Force to be a terrorist organization, and I do not support them being delisted from the foreign terrorist organization list,” Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley told a congressional hearing.
Iran has pressed for the removal of the State Department’s official “Foreign Terrorist Organization” designation of the IRGC as a condition for returning to the 2015 deal.
The previous U.S. administration of Donald Trump unilaterally abrogated the deal in 2018 and a year later slapped the FTO label on the IRGC.
President Joe Biden has sought in negotiations to salvage the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, as the 2015 deal is officially called.
But talks have stalled in the past month over a handful of final issues, including Iran’s demand over the terror designation.
The talks are led by the State Department and Milley and the Pentagon are not directly involved.
It was not clear whether Milley was suggesting an alternative of keeping the Quds Force designated while dropping the broader IRGC from the list.
European, Iranian and U.S. officials have been saying for weeks that an agreement is within sight – but the IRGC issue appears to be the final hurdle.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian has repeatedly denounced “excessive demands” by Washington that he says are stalling the talks.