Removing IRGC From US Terror List 'Dangerous Capitulation'

Three former senior Trump administration officials say removing Iran’s IRGC from the US list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTO) is “a dangerous capitulation".

In a joint statement exclusively shared with Axios on Tuesday, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, and national security advisor Robert C. O'Brien said the move would be “a denial of the basic reality that the IRGC's core mission is to spread terror".

Quoting the US Intelligence Community Annual Threat Assessment issued last month, they reiterated that Iran is a threat to US persons directly and via proxy attacks and "previously attempted to conduct lethal operations in the United States."

“These assessments, combined with the IRGC's lengthy history of killing hundreds of Americans…make it clear: The IRGC is a terrorist organization and should remain labeled as such," they said.

“The pursuit of an ill-conceived ‘deal’ should not compel American leaders to acquiesce to the demands of a terrorist regime to deny the truth. American lives are at stake, and this is a time to project strength, not weakness."

Republican lawmakers are raising objections to removing the IRGC from the US terror list. In their latest effort, 87 representatives wrote a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging him not to remove the IRGC from the list, saying the IRGC "is one of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world today.