‘IRGC’s Regional Victories Led to U.S. Blacklisting’

Date: 16 April 2019 - 21:21

News ID: ۶۴۹۳۰

TEHRAN (Dispatches) - A senior Iranian official says the U.S.’s decision to blacklist Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) is rooted in Washington’s dissatisfaction with the elite military force’s numerous victories against terrorists in regional countries.
Ali Akbar Velayati, a top advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on international affairs, made the remarks during a conference held at the Islamic Azad University in support of the IRGC.
Given the IRGC’s achievements in the region, the Americans finally revealed their true intention and sanctioned the Iranian force as a "terrorist group.”
"It has been a notorious habit and outdated weapon of the West to call anyone who opposes it ‘terrorist’ and to portray any country that refuses to do its bidding as a human rights violator,” Velayati said.
The reason behind the blacklisting of the IRGC  is that "Iran has laid the foundation for true cooperation among major countries in the region, and that Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine have formed a resistance front which acts as a unified force wherever a problem emerges,” Velayati noted.
He also stressed that the terrorist group of Daesh failed to seize Damascus and Baghdad firstly due to the Iraqi and Syrian people’s cooperation and secondly thanks to Iran’s support.
At the request of the governments in Damascus and Baghdad, the IRGC’s military advisors rushed to the aid of the national Syrian and Iraqi armies, paving the way for them to undo Daesh’s gains and rid their countries of the Takfiri terror outfit in late 2017, despite widely-reported attempts by the U.S. and its allies to prevent the terrorists’ collapse.
Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami also on Tuesday deplored a recent move by the U.S. to blacklist the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and said the force as ‘a glorious defense institution’ has played a major role in defending the oppressed nations in the region.
Addressing an open session of the parliament in Tehran, Brigadier General Hatami voiced his support for a motion passed by the Iranian lawmakers to back the IRGC against the U.S. government.
"The Iranian MPs and people are aware that the Great Satan’s (U.S.’s) conspiracies against Iran have continued over the past 40 years but we have emerged victorious with the help of God,” he noted.
"Today, the U.S. seeks to infiltrate into the country's defense system by labeling the IRGC as terrorist but this time again it will be defeated,” the minister added.
During an open session of the parliament on Tuesday afternoon, the MPs voted for the generalities of the motion put forward by the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission.
The motion was passed by 204 votes to 2 during the open session attended by 207 parliamentarians.
****** Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on international affairs, speaks at a conference dubbed, "I am an IRGC member," In Tehran on April 15, 2019.