Zarif urges countries to take position on U.S. step against IRGC
Iran will ask the international community to take a position on the U.S. designation of its Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was cited as saying on Sunday.
Iran condemned U.S. President Donald Trump's step last week as illegal. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is a powerful elite force which controls much of the Iranian state and economy.
"Today ... we will send messages to foreign ministers of all countries to tell them it is necessary for them to express their stances, and to warn them that this unprecedented and dangerous U.S. measure has had and will have consequences," Zarif was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.
Zarif said he had also sent letters to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the United Nations Security Council to protest against "this illegal U.S. measure".
Tehran retaliated against Washington's move by designating the regional United States Central Command (CENTCOM) as a terrorist organization.
Relations between Tehran and Washington took a turn for the worse last May when Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, reached before he took office, and reimposed sanctions.
The United States has already blacklisted dozens of entities and people for affiliations with the IRGC, but had not previously targeted the organization as a whole.
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