IRGC Warns Washington against Labeling it Terrorist Group

Commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards General Mohammad Ali Jafari attends a press conference in Tehran in 2012. (AP/Vahid Salemi)
Commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards General Mohammad Ali Jafari attends a press conference in Tehran in 2012. (AP/Vahid Salemi)
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IRGC Warns Washington against Labeling it Terrorist Group

Commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards General Mohammad Ali Jafari attends a press conference in Tehran in 2012. (AP/Vahid Salemi)
Commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards General Mohammad Ali Jafari attends a press conference in Tehran in 2012. (AP/Vahid Salemi)

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.



Pakistan Says Armed Men Kidnap, Kill Nine Bus Passengers in Restive Province

File photo: Police officers stand guard to secure a procession during the mourning month of Muharram in Karachi, Pakistan, 03 July 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER
File photo: Police officers stand guard to secure a procession during the mourning month of Muharram in Karachi, Pakistan, 03 July 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER
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Pakistan Says Armed Men Kidnap, Kill Nine Bus Passengers in Restive Province

File photo: Police officers stand guard to secure a procession during the mourning month of Muharram in Karachi, Pakistan, 03 July 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER
File photo: Police officers stand guard to secure a procession during the mourning month of Muharram in Karachi, Pakistan, 03 July 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER

Authorities retrieved from Pakistan's mountains the bullet-ridden bodies of nine passengers kidnapped by armed men in a spate of bus attacks in the troubled southwestern province of Balochistan, officials said on Friday.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Baloch separatists, agitating for a greater share of resources, have figured in similar past killings of those identified as hailing from the eastern province of Punjab, Reuters said.

Government official Naveed Alam said the bodies with bullet wounds were found in the mountains overnight, while a provincial government spokesman, Shahid Rind, said the passengers were seized from two buses on Thursday evening.

"We are identifying the bodies and reaching out to their families," he said, adding that the victims, working as laborers in the restive region, were returning home to Punjab.

Ethnic insurgents accuse Pakistan's government of stealing regional resources to fund expenditure elsewhere, mainly in the sprawling province of Punjab.

Security forces foiled three insurgent attacks on Thursday before the kidnappings, Rind said, accusing neighbor and arch rival India of backing the militants.

The Indian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

New Delhi denies accusations by Islamabad that it is funding, training and backing the militants in a bid to stoke instability in the region, where Pakistan relies on China among international investors to develop mines and mineral processing.

"India is now doubling down to further its nefarious agenda through its proxies," the Pakistani army said in a statement in remarks that followed the worst fighting in nearly three decades between the nuclear-armed foes in May.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) is the strongest among the insurgent groups long operating in the area bordering Afghanistan and Iran, a mineral-rich region.

In recent months, separatists have stepped up their attacks, mostly targeting Pakistan's military, which has launched an intelligence-based offensive against them.

Their other main targets have been Chinese nationals and interests, in particular the strategic port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea, with the separatists accusing Beijing of helping Islamabad to exploit resources.

The BLA blew up a railway track and took over 400 train passengers hostage in an attack in March that killed 31.