{"id":186473,"date":"2019-04-10T05:43:03","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T05:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=186473"},"modified":"2019-04-14T07:40:42","modified_gmt":"2019-04-14T07:40:42","slug":"netanyahu-says-trump-designated-iran-guards-a-terror-group-at-his-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=186473","title":{"rendered":"Netanyahu says Trump designated Iran Guards a terror group at his request"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tamar Pileggi \u2013 Times of Israel April 8, 2019<\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Iranian Revolutionary Iranian Revolutionary Guards during drills in Iran in 2015. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday thanked US President Donald Trump for designating Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization, claiming the dramatic move to further isolate Tehran came at his request.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a tweet, Netanyahu said that labeling the Islamic Republic\u2019s elite military force a terror group was \u201ckeeping the world safe from Iranian aggression and terrorism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In a subsequent Hebrew tweet, Netanyahu said the move \u201cserves the interests of our countries and of countries in the region,\u201d and warmly thanked the US leader for \u201cacceding to another one of my important requests.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to work together in every way against the Iranian regime that threatens the State of Israel, the United States, and world peace,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump officially designated the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps a terrorist organization earlier in the day, in a move that Israel has long pushed for and that ramps up the administration\u2019s pressure against Tehran.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump said his administration\u2019s \u201cunprecedented\u201d designation \u201crecognizes the reality that Iran is not only a state sponsor of terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The decision marks the first time that an extension of a foreign government has been designated a terrorist entity by the US.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was formed after the 1979 Islamic revolution with a mission to defend the clerical regime, and the force has amassed strong power both at home and abroad. The Guards\u2019 prized unit is the Quds Force, which supports Iran-backed forces around the region, including Syrian President Bashar Assad and Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.<\/span><\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s announcement came on the eve of Israeli elections where Netanyahu, a close Trump ally, is seeking to extend his 13 years in office.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since taking office, Trump has recognized Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital, withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal, slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians, and recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Netanyahu has repeatedly claimed US recognition of Jerusalem and the Golan as two of his major accomplishments, and has used his close relationship with Trump to portray himself as a respected statesman with personal ties to world leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the run up to Tuesday\u2019s elections, Trump hosted Netanyahu at the White House and recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.<\/span><\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s top diplomat, Mohammad Javad Zarif, slammed the US announcement on Twitter, saying the administration made the decision purely to boost Netanyahu\u2019s popularity ahead of Tuesday\u2019s vote.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA(nother) misguided election-eve gift to Netanyahu. A(nother) dangerous US misadventure in the region,\u201d he wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n

In response to the US designation, Zarif urged Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to place American forces in the Middle East on Tehran\u2019s list of \u201cterrorist\u201d groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

Agencies and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.<\/span> <\/em><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Along with Trump\u2019s recognition of Israel\u2019s sovereignty of the Golan Heights, this confirms what we\u2019ve long suspected \u2013 Israel is calling the shots in U.S. foreign policy <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Israel_Anti-Semitism_Zionism_and_US-UK_allies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=186473"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":186477,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186473\/revisions\/186477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=186473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=186473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=186473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}