Opinion: What does the terrorist-group designation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard mean?
A man reads the Iranian daily newspaper Sazandegi with pictures of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and President Trump on its front page and the headline reading in Persian"Eyes to Eyes," next to a kiosk in Tehran on Tuesday.
There is little doubt about the accuracy of the designation. Michael Singh of the Washington Institute tweeted: “I’ve sat through many interagency debates on whether to designate the IRGC as a [Foreign Terrorist Organization]. What was never on dispute: the IRGC is a prolific and ruthless supporter and perpetrator of terrorism.”
The problem for Washington and those who value freedom and liberty in Iran is that if Iran is ever going to change, it is going to be essential to fracture the IRGC. That requires identifying its weak points and internal disputes and exacerbating them. There can be no informal reform so long as the IRGC remains intact as a Praetorian Guard for the supreme leader, nor will the regime collapse so long as the IRGC remains in power. ...
Veteran Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross says: “It is a symbolic move. Practically, it does not add to the designations by Treasury of the IRGC and its front companies.” He explains, “Given how embedded the IRGC is in the Iranian economy, the risk of being subjected to US sanctions because of the Treasury designations was already very high. And, as we have seen, this already had chilling effect on international companies that might have sought to do business in Iran.
One thing is clear: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is using this as a last-minute election ploy, letting it be known that he requested this step. That begs the question, however, whether it impedes or improves American leverage over Iran.
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