Rouhani Condemns US Hostile Measure against IRGC as Insult to Iranian Nation
President Rouhani made the remarks, addressing the Army Day parades in Tehran on Thursday.
The Iranian president described the designation as “abhorrent", emphasizing that “insulting the IRGC is an insult to all (Iranian) Armed Forces and an insult to the great Iranian nation”.
In the face of America’s blacklisting, “All people stood in unison by the IRGC and will continue to stand by it because the IRGC has always been and will remain at the nation’s side.”
He also said Iran’s Armed Forces do not pose any threat to the regional nations and their national interests, but they “stand against invaders”.
The president further warned that the Zionist regime as well as the US and other big powers do not favor stability, security, integrity and brotherhood in the region, and that is why they militarily intervene in the regional countries, he added.
“The region’s nations have lived alongside each other for centuries and never had a problem... If there is a problem, it is caused by others,” Rouhani said, calling on regional nations to stand united in the face of aggressors.
The crimes being committed by the US military in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and other countries has brought nothing other than misery, agony and carnage to the region, Rouhani said.
He said it was the power of regional nations and Iran’s Armed Forces – including the IRGC – that foiled America’s ominous plot for the region by defeating its terrorist proxies there.
President Rouhani noted that the US is angry with Iran’s Armed Forces, Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi fighters and Yemen’s Popular Committees due to their resistance against American conspiracies.
“The Americans and their stooges in the region and the Zionist regime could not imagine that regional nations with the help of Iran, its Armed Forces and the IRGC could annihilate all their proxies, i.e. terrorists, in the Middle East,” he said.
The US formally blacklisted the IRGC as a "Foreign Terrorist Organization" last week following a relevant announcement by President Donald Trump on 8 April.
Responding to Washington's move, Iran immediately declared the US as "state sponsor of terrorism" and American forces in the region "terrorist groups".
Iran's top security body, the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), in a statement declared the United States a “terrorist government”, and blacklisted the "CENTCOM and all its affiliates a terrorist group”.
The SNSC - that is headed by President Hassan Rouhani - condemned Washington's move, calling it “an illegal and dangerous action” that poses a “major threat to regional and international peace and security and grossly violates the rules of international law".
The statement further condemned the US decision as “unlawful and unreasonable action” prompted by the Islamic Republic's regional influence and success in fighting against terrorists, and blamed CENTCOM for harming Iran’s national security as well as ruining the lives of “innocent Iranian and non-Iranian individuals” to promote the US “aggressive policies” in West Asia (the Middle-East).
"The Islamic Republic of Iran regards this baseless move as a major threat to regional and international peace and security and a blatant violation of the compelling rules of international law and the United Nations Charter," Iran's top security body reiterated.
Also, IRGC Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari blasted Washington for designating the IRGC as a "terrorist organization", stressing that his forces would further increase power in the year ahead.
General Jafari described the US move as "ridiculous", saying that "the IRGC is in the hearts of the people".
“God willing, the IRGC will grow stronger in the coming year in defensive and offensive fields more than before,” he said.
“Much to enemies’ dismay, the IRGC and the Army will stand together and will continue to support the deprived and the oppressed people all over the world without fear,” General Jafari said last week.
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