Iran Condemns Canada's Listing of IRGC as Terrorist Group

FILE PHOTO: Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards participate in a military parade, in Tehran September 21, 2008. REUTERS/Caren Firouz
FILE PHOTO: Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards participate in a military parade, in Tehran September 21, 2008. REUTERS/Caren Firouz
TT

Iran Condemns Canada's Listing of IRGC as Terrorist Group

FILE PHOTO: Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards participate in a military parade, in Tehran September 21, 2008. REUTERS/Caren Firouz
FILE PHOTO: Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards participate in a military parade, in Tehran September 21, 2008. REUTERS/Caren Firouz

Iran condemned on Thursday Canada's listing of the Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization as "an unwise and unconventional politically-motivated step.”

"Canada's action will not have any effect on the Revolutionary Guards' legitimate and deterrent power," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.

He added that Tehran reserves the right to respond accordingly to the listing.

On Wednesday, Ottawa listed the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization, a step that could lead to the investigation of former senior Iranian officials now living in Canada.

The United States took a similar step in 2019 against the Revolutionary Guards, which Western nations accuse of carrying out a global terrorist campaign.



Attacker Wounds Policeman Guarding Israel's Embassy in Serbia before Being Shot Dead

Police officers block off traffic at an intersection close to the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)
Police officers block off traffic at an intersection close to the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)
TT

Attacker Wounds Policeman Guarding Israel's Embassy in Serbia before Being Shot Dead

Police officers block off traffic at an intersection close to the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)
Police officers block off traffic at an intersection close to the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

An attacker with a crossbow wounded a Serbian police officer guarding the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade on Saturday, Serbia’s interior ministry said. The officer responded by fatally shooting the assailant.
Both Serbian and Israeli officials said that initial indications are that it was a terror-motivated attack.
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said in a statement that the attacker fired a bolt at the officer, hitting him in the neck. He said the officer then "used a weapon in self-defense to shoot the attacker, who died as a result of his injuries.”
The policeman was conscious when he was transported to Belgrade's main emergency hospital, where an operation to remove the bolt from his neck will be performed, the statement added.

The policeman is in a life-threatening condition and is undergoing surgery, Serbian news agency Tanjug quoted Dacic as saying.
A spokesman with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “today there was an attempted terrorist attack in the vicinity of the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade.” The spokesman said the embassy is closed and no employee of the embassy was injured.
Dacic told reporters that “we are still talking about possible motives."
He added, however: “There are now all indications that the motives relate to terrorism. Because there is no other motive why someone would attack a gendarme outside the Israeli Embassy.”
He said one person was arrested near the scene of the shooting. Police are investigating a possible network and ties with foreign terrorist groups, he added.
The identity of the attacker was still being determined.
Authorities raised the security alert in Belgrade, including for foreign embassies and government buildings but also public places such as shopping malls and other busy areas.