Zarif to UN: Iran to Hold US Accountable for Anti-IRGC Mischief

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a letter to the UN secretary general and Security Council said Iran will hold the US accountable to any possible provocations against the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps [IRGC] in the future.

In his letter, Zarif complained to the UN about Washington’s recent decision against the IRGC, saying that the US and several puppet governments will bear responsibility for dangerous consequences of the adventurism.

The letter reads that Iran condemns the provocative measure and considers it an antagonistic action against Iran and a major threat to regional and international peace and security.

Describing IRGC as an official branch of Iran’s armed forces, Zarif said that blacklisting it is a blatant violation of international principles and the UN Charter.

“The provocative move will promote tensions to uncontrollable level and will increase threats faced by the region which previously encountered innumerable challenges,” he said.

Unlike the US and its regional allies which have always sponsored the terrorist and extremist groups in West Asia, Iran’s armed forces, including the IRGC, were in the forefront of fighting terrorism and extremism, he said.

All the affected peoples and governments have admired role of IRGC in fighting terrorist groups banned by the UNSC including al-Qaeda, the Wahhabi Daesh [Arabic acronym for “ISIS” / “ISIL”], Al-Nusra and other terrorist groups, the letter added.

In reaction to the US designation, Iran’s Ambassador to London Hamid Baeedinejad said the US move against the IRGC at a time when the Iranian military body is helping the flood-hit people with all in power is a gift to Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu to assist him in the elections.

The latest anti-Iran move of Trump was also met with fierce reactions from Iranian officials.

Foreign Minister Zarif recommended that Iran's Supreme National Security Council [SNSC] should add American forces in West Asia, known as the United States Central Command [CENTCOM], to its terrorist groups' list.

In a letter to President Hassan Rouhani, he also called for a retaliatory move by labeling the CENTCOM as a terrorist organization and the US government as a terrorist sponsor.

Zarif described the move as 'another misguided election-eve gift to Netanyahu'.

In a related development, Chairman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh announced on April 8 before the US anti-IRGC decision that Iranian parliament has prepared a double-urgency bill which will be approved in case the US takes possible measures against IRGC.

Falahatpisheh said that if it happens, Iran declares the US military forces as a terrorist group like Daesh.

The members of Iranian parliament at Tuesday's session showed up in official uniforms of IRGC to announce their support and solidarity with the forces.

To support the IRGC, 255 out of 290 Iranian lawmakers issued a statement on April 8, stressing that the Majlis will respond reciprocally to any measure against IRGC as part of the Iranian military forces.

Majlis through its statement described IRGC as one of the great achievements gained after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.