Iran on Monday threatened to give a “hard, decisive and crushing” response to the United States, if the Trump administration lists the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, IRGC, as a terrorist organization.
The Islamic Republic foreign ministry spokesman, Bahram Ghasemi told reporters that Iran hopes the U.S. will not make “this strategic and important mistake”.
A day earlier, the IRGC commander, Mohammad Ali Jafari had threatened U.S. forces by saying, “If reports about the stupidity of the U.S. government to classify IRGC as a terrorist organization are true, then IRGC will consider the U.S. armed forces equivalent to the Islamic State, all over the world and especially in the Middle East”.
President Donald Trump is set to announce his stance towards the Islamic Republic, on Thursday, October 12, two days before the administration is scheduled to notify Congress whether it re-certifies Iran’s continued commitment to the 2015 nuclear deal.
The White House has signaled that president Trump might not certify the nuclear deal, as is required every three months by the U.S. Congress.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on October 8 that Trump is not just looking at Iran’s commitment to the nuclear deal, but at its behavior in general.
The foreign ministry spokesman also spoke about the recent conviction of one of Iran’s nuclear negotiators, Abdolrasoul Dorri Esfahani on charges of espionage.
Mr. Ghasemi did not challenge the conviction, but praised Esfahani’s services to the Islamic Republic “in the last few decades”, adding, “it is believed that the return of $1.7 billion [from the Obama administration] was his work”.
The foreign ministry spokesman also denied U.S. accusations that Iran had cooperated with North Korea.