Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corp Major General Mohammad Ali Jaafari renewed on Sunday his threats against US regional bases if Washington decided to designate the Guards as a terrorist group.
In a statement delivered during a “strategic” IRGC meeting in Tehran on Sunday, Jaafari warned that if the US imposes new sanctions on the Iranian forces, the move would be considered tantamount to US unilateral withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and would therefore end any chances of future dialogue with the US.
JCPOA, which is the nuclear agreement signed between Iran and the Group 5+1 in 2015, includes an agreement to lift sanctions against Iran in exchange of its agreement to limit its nuclear program to peaceful purposes.
Last August, US President Donald Trump signed into law the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) to enact new sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia.
“As we previously announced, if the US approves the CAATSA law, Washington will then have to relocate its regional bases out of the reach of Iran’s missiles, which have a range of 2,000 kilometers,” Jaafari was quoted by the Sepah news website, a mouthpiece of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, as saying.
The commander added: “If reports on the US decision to enlist Iran’s IRGC as a terrorist group happen to be true, the Iranian force would also treat the US Army everywhere in the world and especially in the Middle East in the same way as ISIS terrorists.”
Earlier, Trump had spoken about Tehran’s breaching of the nuclear deal.
But Jaafari said: "The Americans should know that the Islamic Republic would use the Trump administration's stupid behavior toward JCPOA to make great strides in advancing its defensive, regional and missile programs.”
He added that Iran intends to solve regional issues at a place other than the negotiating table.
