Iran’s Supreme Leader addresses Revolutionary Guards members and their families, Tehran, April 8, 2019


Iran’s Supreme Leader has reacted to the Trump Administration’s designation of the Revolutionary Guards as a “terrorist organization”, denouncing the “trickery, deceit, and maliciousness”.

Addressing Guards personnel and their families in Tehran on Monday, Ayatollah Khamenei proclaimed, “The IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps] is the vanguard both on the field confronting the enemy on borders and even several thousand kilometers away [in Syria] as well as on the political battleground against the enemy.

He said American “plots will boomerang against them and boasted:

Earlier on Monday, Donald Trump announced the formal designation of the IRGC, the first time that the US has sanctioned an entity of another government as a foreign terrorist organization: “Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but…the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft.”

US officials said the designation authorizes economic and travel sanctions on 11 million members of the IRGC and affiliated units.

The Iranian currency, already down 65% in value since January 2018, fell 8% against the US dollar after the announcement.

Iran Daily, April 9: Currency Falls After US Sanctions Revolutionary Guards

Khamenei did not refer to Iran’s economic problems, amid long-term internal issues and comprehensive US sanctions since November. Instead he proclaimed:

Such malice will lead nowhere. With the their deceit rebounding back to themselves, the Islamic Republic’s enemies — such as Trump and the idiots…in the US government — are moving toward rock bottom.