Iran declares all US troops in Middle East ‘terrorists’

Iran has passed a new law declaring all US forces in the Middle East terrorists and calling the US government a sponsor of terrorism, dramatically escalating tensions between the two countries.

The bill was passed by parliament last week and signed into law on Tuesday by President Hassan Rouhani, “in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s decision this month to designate Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard [IRGC] a foreign terrorist organisation”, says Reuters.

Although the US had already blacklisted dozens of entities and people affiliated to the 125,000-strong military group, until Trump’s decision it had held off passing judgement on the organisation as a whole.

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It is the first time the US had ever designated part of a foreign government in this way. “Labelling the Guards as a terrorist organisation will allow the US to impose further sanctions,” says the BBC, “particularly affecting the business sector, given the IRGC's involvement in Iran’s economy.”

In just over two years, the US has pulled out of a landmark multilateral nuclear deal agreed by Barack Obama, reimposed harsh economic and oil sanctions which have crippled the economy and sought to counter Tehran’s influence in the Middle East.

“The IRGC designation adds yet another, massive brick in this wall of mistrust separating the two,” says Trita Parsi in The Guardian. “But unlike previous moves, this decision is next to irreversible mindful of the immense political capital required to reverse it. And without undoing it, a diplomatic breakthrough with Iran appears inconceivable”.

The blacklisting of the Revolutionary Guard, which includes its overseas Quds forces, has been seen as an attempt to limit Iran’s ability to wage proxy wars in the region. It “adds another layer of sanctions to the powerful paramilitary force and makes it a crime under US jurisdiction to provide it with material support”, reports Military Times.

BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus says few Western commentators would disagree that the IRGC is responsible for all sorts of disruptive activities in the region and beyond, but adds that “many - including it seems some officials in the state department and the Pentagon - fear that this step could simply backfire as it could encourage the IRGC or its proxies to take action against US personnel or other targets in places where they might be vulnerable, for example in Iraq”.

Revolutionary Guards commanders have repeatedly said that US bases in the Middle East and US aircraft carriers in the Gulf are within range of Iranian missiles.