Iran Labels US Forces as Terrorist

Iran on Sunday dismissed a recent approval by the US House of Representatives to blacklist the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group, and said that the word terrorist is a proper title for the military and security forces of the United States. “The word terrorist suits the military and security forces of the US,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini said during his weekly press conference here today.

He further expressed surprise at the blatant disrespect for the international rules and norms, saying, “Placing the armed forces of the UN member states on the list of terrorist groups is unprecedented.”

Asked about his country’s nuclear case, the spokesman said that Tehran would continue its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to defuse a row over its nuclear program, adding that some Western states are trying to disrupt the process.

“The process that certain radical countries have followed so far is to disrupt the positive climate that has been put in place through the cooperation of the Islamic Republic of Iran with the agency,” he said.
Hosseini added that despite their intense efforts to disrupt Tehran’s cooperation with the IAEA, the said states “have failed in the latest meeting of the 5+1 Group”.

He said that due to the strong support shown by some of the 5+1 member states for Iran-IAEA cooperation, the extremist states were eventually forced in the meeting to respect the views of other countries which were more realistic, “and therefore they have been forced to be patient.”

Hosseini further called on those 5+1 member states which backed Iran-IAEA cooperation in the last meeting to continue with their support and to advise others to follow them.

Also in response to questions about Iran’s possible reaction to a third set of sanctions by the UN Security Council, he said, “To avoid possible sanctions, we are going to continue working with the agency and our diplomatic efforts will continue unabated,” adding that the next round of talks to discuss the remaining questions about Iran’s P1 and P2 centrifuges will be held in early October.”

Meantime, the spokesman stressed that Iran’s nuclear case should go through its normal course at the IAEA.

Asked about Iran’s reaction to possible military threats or invasions, he said that his country has all the necessary means and the required preventative power to defend itself, but meantime, assured that Iran poses no threat to any other country.