Pentagon gegen Streichung der Revolutionsgardisten von Terrorliste

Die USA haben ein Zugeständnis nach dem anderen an den Iran gemacht und das in einer zeit, in der ehemalige iranischer Präsidentschaftkandidat Ali Motahari offen zugibt, dass die Islamische Republik nach der Bombe strebt.

Eigentlich steht also einem neuen Deal nichts mehr im Wege, der ganz nach iranischem Geschmack wäre und in Saudi Arabien und anderen Golfstaaten ebenso wie in Israel an heftige Ablehnung stößt.

Allerdings insistiert der Iran weiter darauf, dass die Revolutionsgarden von der US-Terrorliste gestrichen werden und das scheint, zumindest im Pentagon eine rote Linie zu sein:

In recent U.S. inter-agency debate, the U.S. Department of Defense came out against removing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) from a State Department terror black list if Iran would not agree to a reciprocal non-nuclear concession, such as commit to not target each other’s officials, a senior U.S. official told me.

The issue is believed to be one of the last sticking points to restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear pact, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which then US President Trump quit in 2018. The Trump administration subsequently added the IRGC to the State Department list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTO) in 2019.

What President Biden committed to doing was a “compliance for compliance deal,” in which the United States would suspend nuclear-related sanctions on Iran if Iran returned to full compliance with the JCPOA, a senior US official told me.

“The Iranians wanted us to remove the IRGC FTO,” the senior U.S. official continued. “And we gave them lots of options for non-nuclear concessions and commitments they could make in return,” the U.S. official said. The Iranians apparently said no.

Iran reportedly has active threats against former American officials in retaliation for the U.S. killing of IRGC Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani in January 2000.