An organisation representing the Iranian diaspora in the US has called on the US Government to place the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) for their increased use of terrorism against Iranian dissidents in the West during 2018.
The Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC) believes that the recent uptick in terrorist activity by these two groups means that they should be moved to the FTO list from the Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) list.
After all, one of the Iranian regime’s diplomats is currently awaiting trial in Belgium for his role in the thwarted bombing of the Free Iran gathering in Paris last June, where dozens of senior former American officials and hundreds of OIAC members were present. The diplomat had hired the would-be terrorists and provided them with the highly explosive material.
In December, Albania expelled the Iranian ambassador and another diplomat for their involvement in the terror plot against the Iranian dissident community there on the occasion of the Iranian New Year in March, while three other Iranian diplomats were expelled by France and the Netherlands for their terrorist plots and several other Iranian agents were jailed.
Another two Iranian operatives were arrested in the US for spying on Iranian opposition members for the MOIS to gather information for potential “capture and kill operations”, according to the Department of Justice.
All of those Iranians have ties to the MOIS and the IRGC.
Iran must not be allowed to expand its network of terrorists within the US, so it is imperative that both groups are placed on the FTO list. This would limit the Regime’s ability to recruit members on US soil because it is a crime for any American to provide “material support or resources” to FTOs. This designation would also mean that any MOIS or IRGC member can be barred from entering the US and have their assets frozen.
The US already views Iran as the number one state sponsor of terrorism, this would just make it official.
Dr. Majid Sadeghpour, the political director of OIAC, wrote: “We once again applaud the US Congress’ efforts in favour of the FTO designation of the MOIS and the IRGC and urge the Secretary of State [Mike Pompeo] to make such designation to mitigate further suffering of the Iranian people in the hands of these criminal entities and empower the longest suffering people of Iran.”
Source » irannewsupdate