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Tehran reacted to the designation by naming the US Central Command (CENTCOM) as a terrorist organisation and the US government a sponsor of terrorism.
State TV reported: “This bill permits the government to take firm and retaliatory measures against terrorist activities of American forces that endangers Iran’s interests. The government should use legal, political and diplomatic measures in response to the American actions.”
The IRGC comprises of Iran’s elite armed forces and is also a powerful economic force. It has a business empire spanning much of the Iranian economy.
Some 168 lawmakers out of 210 present at the parliament voted for the bill, Iranian news agencies reported.
One provision of the bill demands that Iran’s several intelligence agencies work in tandem to compile a list of individuals who work for CENTCOM.
Lawmakers have, meanwhile, officially urged the Iranian foreign ministry to determine any available legal mechanisms that could be put to use in removing US military bases from neighbouring states and cutting their supply chains to US-aligned groups in Syria.
The new chief commander of the IRGC Hossein Salami, appointed after the US blacklisting of the Guard, has warned in the past that Iran could use its cruise and ballistic missiles and drones, mines, speedboats, and missile launchers in the Gulf area to confront the US, Reuters noted.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on April 23 that the growing economic pressure being placed on Iran by the US showed that Washington was in a panic that its Iran strategy was not working. “Escalating #EconomicTERRORISM against Iranians exposes panic & desperation of US regime—and chronic failures of its client co-conspirators,” Zarif tweeted.
A commander of Iran’s IRGC said on April 22 that Tehran would block all exports through the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint in the Gulf if Tehran was barred from using the waterway. Energy shipments representing a fifth of global oil consumption passes on its way from Middle East producers to major markets via the strait.
2.6 Hardliner appointed to head Iran’s Revolutionary Guard
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has replaced the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with a general widely seen as a hardliner, days after the US designated the elite group a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) in an unprecedented move.
In reporting the move on April 22, Iranian state TV did not give a reason for the promotion of Brigadier General Hossein Salami ,58, well-known for his hardline
8 IRAN Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com