Tabnak – Days after the US administration announced its controversial decision on blacklisting the IRGC, Iranian officials continue to warn Washington of the consequences of its move. In its latest warning of this kind, Tehran has warned the US of any hostile act in the Persian Gulf.
In this vein, Iran's envoy to the United Kingdom has warned the United States that Tehran will “forcefully retaliate” any moves by the US military against the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), which was designated as a terrorist organization by US President Donald Trump earlier this week.
Hamid Baeidinejad told CNN’s Christian Amanpour on Thursday that American military forces in the Persian Gulf region were in a volatile situation and it wouldn’t be wise if they decided to take action against the Iranian elite force.
“The reality is the US forces are now in the region, so logically now there are concerns even within the US establishment for naming the IRGC as a terrorist organization because now it can have a very immediate impact over the situation the US forces have in the region,” he said.
Baeidinejad said the announcement by Trump was only rhetorical and that he did not believe Washington would ever instruct US forces to really confront the IRGC and treat it as a terrorist force.
“If they dare to implement those instructions that the IRGC is a terrorist organization… if they move to counter the IRGC, they would see how forcefully they would be retaliated on the ground,” the Iranian envoy asserted. “So I imagine that these are just rhetorics.”
Earlier, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi commented on the US decision, saying that from now on, the American forces stationed in the region are not soldiers any longer and will be regarded as terrorists.
With regard to these warnings, Azeri new outlet Trend News writes that “So far, in Syria, Iraq or other place, where the US and Iranian or pro-Iranian forces are simultaneously present, there have been no cases of direct contact with a threat to use force. Now this threat is becoming real.” The report suggests that after the new American decision “The risks for the US military have much increased, especially in Iraq and the Persian Gulf.”
In another related development, the head of Iran’s top arbitration body says the Islamic Republic has proportionate responses in store if enemies choose to take any action on the ground.
“Should enemies seek to take any practical measure too, the Islamic Republic would certainly respond proportionately,” said Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani, chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council, IRNA reported on Thursday.
US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that Washington is designating the IRGC a foreign “terrorist organization”, marking the first time the US has formally labeled another country's military a terrorist group.
Responding to the move, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council immediately declared the US as a state sponsor of terrorism and US forces in the region terrorists. The SNSC said it has put CENTCOM on its terror list as a “reciprocal measure” against the US “illegal and unwise” move.
