WASHINGTON, April 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. designation of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a "foreign terrorist organization" (FTO) on Monday could disrupt U.S. economic and diplomatic links around the globe and further escalate Middle East tension, U.S. experts said.
"This designation will be the first time that the United States has ever named a part of another government as an FTO," U.S. President Donald Trump said in a statement, adding that the designation "will significantly expand the scope and scale of our maximum pressure on the Iranian regime."
According to The Wall Street Journal, the designation bans companies and individuals from providing any type of material support or resources to the IRGC-controlled companies, and those who deal with them would be subject to civil or criminal penalties, including prosecution.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif indicated via twitter the alleged link between the U.S. designation decision and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is seeking a fifth term in the April 9 elections but faces a tough fight from former Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz and a series of allegations over fraud and bribery.
"A(nother) misguided election-eve gift to Netanyahu. A(nother) dangerous U.S. misadventure in the region," noted Zarif, who also posted a report of Israeli media saying the Trump administration's decision was made at the request of Netanyahu.
Wayne White, former deputy director of the Middle East Intelligence Office of the State Department, told Xinhua in an interview that it is "quite possible" that "this move also was timed to suggest ... Israeli voters that Prime Minister Netanyahu is the only Israeli leader with the personal ties to President Trump who can deliver on such Israeli supported matters."
However, Washington has claimed that the move is merely part of its pressure campaign and "broader effort to counter Iran-backed terrorism around the world."
In response to media's question why the U.S. administration had decided to make the designation on Monday, Nathan Sales, U.S. coordinator for counterterrorism, only said that "it's the next step in our maximum pressure campaign."
"This administration previously designated the IRGC for providing support to terrorism. Today, we have stripped away the plausible deniability," Sales said.
White believes that the Trump Administration is "determined to pressure and hurt Iran as much as possible, and this is one more such action since the U.S. backed out of the Iranian nuclear agreement."
Speaking of the spillovers of the U.S. move, Dan Mahaffee, senior vice president and director of policy at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua that the U.S. unprecedented step, which actually listed a foreign government's organization as a terrorist entity, "does raise the risk of further escalation and confrontation with Iran, and we are already seeing this as the Iranians are declaring U.S. forces to be a terrorist entity as well."
Iran's Supreme National Security Council has responded to the U.S. designation by announcing U.S. Central Command forces in West Asia as a "terrorist group."
"Because the IRGC has links to so many individuals and institutions abroad (mostly through its civilian economic empire), such a sweeping designation also could disrupt everything from American economic to diplomatic links to quite an array of global contacts," White said.
U.S. media quoted analysts as saying that the U.S. move, together with possible retaliation from Iran and the Shiite forces in Middle East nations, would further escalate the regional confrontation, and complicate the mission of U.S. forces and diplomats in the region that have to engage with governments that may have close links to Iran, and even with Iran itself over a group of sensitive issues.
According to U.S. media, the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community also feared that the move could lead to a backlash against U.S. forces in the region "without inflicting the intended damage on the Iranian economy."
When asked about whether Washington has provided safety measures to the U.S. forces operating very closely to the IRGC members in the Middle East, Brian Hook, senior policy advisor to the secretary of state and special representative for Iran, said at a press briefing that the U.S. side has "taken all measures that are appropriate and prudent in the context of this designation."
The stated goals of the Trump administration's Iran policy are also under question.
Last year, Pompeo rolled out U.S. new strategy on Iran, outlining 12-point requirements for Iran to change its behaviors.
Brookings Institution senior fellow Michael O'Hanlon said he has "lots of qualms about Trump's overall Mideast policy -- the 12-point Pompeo speech on Iran last year with entirely unrealistic goals."
(Matthew Rusling also contributed to the story.)
