Responding to the U.S. move to add the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) to the list of foreign terrorist organizations, the Iranian parliament passed a "double-urgency motion" on Tuesday, April 9, to "strengthen the military force."
Meanwhile, IRGC Chief-Commander, Major General Mohammad Ali (Aziz) Jafari declared that the corps will become more potent in its defensive and offensive capabilities.
Out of 198 MPs present in the session, 189 voted in favor of the double-urgency motion on supporting and reinforcing IRGC against U.S. measures.
The details of the motion are going to be discussed in parliament’s next session.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday declared the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organization. It is the first time Washington has formally designated another country’s military a terrorist group. The decision will come into effect next Monday.
Trump said the “unprecedented” move “recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft.”
“The IRGC is the Iranian government’s primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign,” Trump said.
The Iranian parliament retaliated by branding the American forces based in West Asia as a "terrorist" entity.
"All legal and real persons and troops of the United States and its allies operating in the West Asian region are recognized as terrorist by Iran, as well as any financial, technical and other aid extended to them is regarded a terrorist act," maintained the motion.
Furthermore, the motion asserted that it is a must for the Iranian government to defuse the U.S. act of listing IRGC as a terrorist group through bilateral and multilateral negotiations with international bodies and organizations.
Before the start of the morning session on Tuesday, all MPs wore the IRGC dark green fatigues in defiance to the U.S. move and reaffirming their support for the IRGC military forces.
They also chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” in the public session.
According to the motion ratified Tuesday, the military forces of Iran are duty-bound to perform "decisive retaliatory actions," in the framework set by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), against the moves of American forces in West Asia, if needed”.
However, before taking any action, the military forces should receive Khamenei's permission, the motion asserts.
It is not the first time that Iranian lawmakers ratify such motions. They have repeatedly passed similar motions without a follow-up on their implementation.
Based on legislation passed last year, the Rouhani Administration was duty-bound to designate the American military as a terrorist entity.
However, at the time of the passage of the law, many analysts dismissed it as a "propaganda piece," insisting that Tehran's reciprocal actions could not jeopardize or threaten U.S. interests.
The new double-urgency bill was ratified at a time that Iran’s security council had already decided to designate U.S. CENTCOM and all entities affiliated with it as "terrorist organizations".
Moreover, the Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff said in a statement that, from now on, it will treat the U.S. army as a terrorist entity.
The CENTCOM area of responsibility is the Middle East, as well as Egypt, Central Asia and most notably Afghanistan.