Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the then- head of the Revolutionary Guards, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari (File)

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has signed a law designating US armed forces as a terrorist organization.

The bill from the Majlis, the Iranian Parliament, is aimed at US Central Command — which operates throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. The measure follows the Trump Administration’s April 8 designation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a foreign terrorist organization, expanding American sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

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Rouhani’s Presidential website offered no comment and merely said, “The act was forwarded to ministries of Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Defence and Armed Forces’ Logistics, as well as Supreme National Security Council and Plan and Budget Organisation.”

Just before Washington’s move, Guards commander Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari threatened retaliation, and immediately afterwards the Supreme Leader denounced US “trickery and deceit”. However, Iran’s response has been limited to the designation of CENTCOM.

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The Majlis gave final approval on the legislation last week by a vote of 173 to 4. The law states:

CENTCOM as well as forces, organizations and bodies under its command, are declared terrorist and providing any assistance — including military, intelligence, financial, technical, educational, administrative and logistical — to these forces in order to counter the IRGC [Revolutionary Guards] and the Islamic Republic of Iran amounts to collaboration in an act of terror.

The US Treasury has said that the designation of the Revolutionary Guards, which has about 125,000 personnel, could affect 11 million people connected with the organization.

In addition to being Iran’s elite military force, the Guards have an extensive stake in Iran’s economy, with shares in many companies and the leading role in areas such as engineering and logistics.