IRGC-Linked Lawmaker Says Iran Not Insisting On Delisting The Guards

Iran International Newsroom
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s cadets during a parade
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s cadets during a parade

An Iranian lawmaker who was Tehran’s security commander as an IRGC general, says "We do not insist on delisting the IRGC as a terrorist group. But the United States should behave logically."

Asked during an interview with Didban Iran website whether the US decision not to delist the IRGC means the end of the nuclear deal with Iran, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Esmail Kowsari said: "We have set a framework for the nuclear negotiations. America jumping up and down will not affect our decision."

Talks to revive the JCPOA in Vienna came to an abrupt stop in March, reportedly for Iran’s insistence that the IRGC be removed for the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO).

Kowsari added, "The time is over for America's jingoism and irrelevant responses. It is now the United States' turn to give us a logical response."

He further said that "We know that it was not Biden who added the IRGC to the FTO list, but we also know that it was Trump, the evil one, who imposed the sanctions on Iran and pulled out of the deal with us."

Kowsari also suggested a solution for the diplomatic impasse: "If Mr. Biden wants the nuclear negotiations to revive the JCPOA to be fruitful, he needs to lift those sanctions and delist the IRGC. It is in that case that we can reach an agreement about our relations."

However, the former Revolutionary Guard general who is now a lawmaker from Tehran reiterated that "Nothing will happen to the Islamic Republic, and we will continue what we are doing if Biden refuses to delist the IRGC. In this case the talks over the revival of the JCPOA will remain inconclusive."

He added, "We have shown our honesty and remained loyal to our commitments. If the United States refuses to fulfil its commitments the whole world will realize that the Americans are criminals."

Elsewhere in his remarks, Kowsari said he was not aware of the attack on the Parchin base southeast of Tehran during which an Iranian officer was killed. He said: "I am not a member of the national security committee of the Majles [parliament] and no one briefs me on developments like that."

Brigadier General Esmail Kowsari
Brigadier General Esmail Kowsari

Meanwhile, the moderate news website Rouydad24 pointed out in a report on Sunday that the US President's refusal to delist the IRGC is the main obstacle on the way of reviving the nuclear negotiations with Iran and subsequently reaching an agreement between Tehran and Washington.

This comes while in less than ten days, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is slated to publish is seasonal report on Iran's nuclear activities. Without further elaborating on the issue Rouydad24 said there are no good news coming from the IAEA about its upcoming report.

In the meantime, according to Wall Street Journal, based on Middle East intelligence officials and documents reviewed by the Journal, "Iran used secret records of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, nearly two decades ago to skirt investigations into its nuclear program and hide suspected work on nuclear weapons."

The resulting pessimism about the future of Iran's nuclear case, has led some media outlets in Iran, including the reformist Mostaghel (Independent) dailyto believe that Iran's nuclear case will be handed over to the UN Security Council.The daily quoted political analyst Jalal Sadatian as saying, "This will be the beginning of a dangerous phase in the course of Iran's nuclear case."