Iraqi Resistance Group Says ‘State Sponsor of Terror’ Fits US, Not IRGC

Iraqi Kata’ib Hezbollah Shia group condemned the blacklisting of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) by the administration of President Donald Trump, saying the term ‘state sponsor of terror’ best describes the United States itself because it has a history full of evil and crimes against world nations, including Iraq.

News ID: 444267

Date: 12 April 2019 - 01:04

RNA - The belligerent US policy against Iran, Islam and the resistance front will leave no option other than resistance in the face of Washington’s acts of aggression, the popular group said in a statement, after Washington designated Iran’s IRGC as a “terrorist organization”.

The racist and stupid US president has now resorted to a set of measures aimed at plunging the world into tensions and chaos after the resistance front successfully foiled all American-Israeli plots in the Middle East region, it added.

Kata’ib Hezbollah also expressed its solidarity with the Iranian nation in the face of the unilateral and oppressive US sanctions, which it said are supported by the criminal regimes in Tel Aviv and Riyadh.

It further warned that the US military presence in Iraq poses a threat to the national security of the country and its neighbors, urging the Baghdad government to stop cooperation with the Americans, Zionists and Saudis.

Similarly, Iraqi Shia movement Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba stressed that the designation will have no impact on the approach of Iraq’s Islamic resistance groups towards neighboring Iran.

Nujaba Spokesman Hashim al-Mousawi noted that the blacklisting is part of a unilateral American campaign of sanctions already targeting Iran and the IRGC.

Mousawi further censured the US for using the issue of terrorism as a tool to pile pressure on other countries and wage psychological warfare against them.

On Monday, the United States for the first time ever designated an official foreign military institution as a terrorist organization.

Responding to Washington's move, Iran immediately declared the US as "state sponsor of terrorism" and American forces in the region "terrorist groups".

Iran's top security body, the Supreme Nationsl Security Council (SNSC), in a statement issued on Monday evening declared the United States a “terrorist government”, and blacklisted the "the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) and all its affiliates a terrorist group”.

The SNSC - that is headed by President Hassan Rouhani - condemned Washington's move, calling it “an illegal and dangerous action” that poses a “major threat to regional and international peace and security and grossly violates the rules of international law".

The statement further condemned the US decision as “unlawful and unreasonable action” prompted by the Islamic Republic's regional influence and success in fighting against terrorists, and blamed CENTCOM for harming Iran’s national security as well as ruining the lives of “innocent Iranian and non-Iranian individuals” to promote the US “aggressive policies” in West Asia (the Middle-East).

"The Islamic Republic of Iran regards this baseless move as a major threat to regional and international peace and security and a blatant violation of the compelling rules of international law and the United Nations Charter," Iran's top security body reiterated.

847/940