The Biden administration is considering removing the troubled Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from its terrorist lists and removing other sanctions as it tries to reach a new nuclear deal.
This is one of the most controversial concessions offered by Rob Mali, the State Department’s special envoy for Iranat a time when conversations are in a critical phase.
The Trump administration declared the IRGC a terrorist organization in 2019, accusing it of providing funding, training and equipment to other groups worth $ 1 billion each year.
Less than a year later, General Kasem Soleimani, the commander of its Quds forces, was killed in a US drone strike.
Details of the group’s removal plan surfaced in a long Twitter post posted by former State Department official Gabriel Noronha, who said he had been authorized to disclose details of discussions from disgruntled former colleagues.
“This is a long and technical subject, but here’s what you need to know: the deal being negotiated in Vienna is dangerous to our national security, it is illegal, illegitimate and in no way serves US interests in the short term or in the long run, “he wrote.
“That’s why: led by Rob Mali, the United States has promised to lift sanctions against some of the regime’s worst terrorists and terrorists, leading WMD regime infrastructure officials, and is currently trying to lift sanctions against the IRGC itself.”
In particular, he revealed that Mali had insisted on lifting sanctions against the Revolutionary Guard.
He was repulsed by other employees.
“That didn’t stop him,” Noronya continued.
The Guardian Corps of Iran’s Islamic Revolution was classified as a terrorist organization by the Trump administration in 2019 after the United States withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal.
Robert Mali, US Special Representative for Iran, urges the Biden administration to reject the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s terrorist designation so as to secure a nuclear deal with Iran
Details of the potential deal were revealed by Gabriel Noronha, a former special adviser on Iran to the State Department during the Trump administration.
“Mali has offered the Iranians the United States to remove the IRGC from the list of foreign terrorist organizations and sanctions if the Iranians simply promise to talk to the United States in new negotiations on their” regional activities “(also known as terrorism).”
The result, he said, is anger among some employees.
“What is happening in Vienna is a complete disaster,” one warned.
A senior Western diplomat familiar with the state of the Vienna talks confirmed that Iran had originally asked Mali for a concession and insisted that Washington accept it.
With the world now distracted by Ukraine, some analysts worry that the Biden administration may agree to weaker conditions.
A return to an agreement is planned, which will limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions.
A 2015 agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan, or JCPOA, imposed restrictions on enriched uranium production.
But the United States withdrew in 2018 after Trump called it “the worst deal ever.”
Conservatives said Iran was not abiding by the spirit of the agreement by fueling unrest in the Middle East and developing missile technology.
Griefs gather to remember General Kasem Soleimani at Imam Khomeini’s Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January 17, 2020, after he was killed in a US drone strike
Soleimani led IRGC Quds forces and considered Iran’s second-most powerful man until he was killed during a visit to Baghdad, Iraq
Negotiations to resume the deal were resumed in Vienna late last year and have now reached what all parties agree is a critical moment.
However, the US negotiating team was struck by the resignation over Mali’s position.
Richard Nefu, the deputy special envoy for the State Department’s talks with Iran, resigned after calling on the administration to take a tougher line in January.
Noronya, a political appointee at the State Department who was later fired by Trump for criticizing the former president over the Jan. 6 violence, said his former colleagues were worried that Iran was gaining the upper hand.
He says an executive order sanctioning members of Iran’s supreme leader’s cabinet is also on the table and could be revoked as early as Monday.
The White House National Security Council did not respond to a request for comment.
A State Department spokesman said he was not ready to negotiate publicly.
“We are ready to make difficult decisions to undo the failed administration’s” maximum pressure “policy, which has led to an escalating nuclear crisis and significantly increased threats to US citizens, interests and partners in the region,” he said.
This print photo provided by the IRGC shows an underground anti-ship missile base in an undiscovered location in the Persian Gulf in January 2021.
The IRGC was accused of being an “active and enthusiastic participant in terrorist acts” when it was identified as a terrorist group – including the 1983 bombing of the US Marine Corps in Beirut, which killed 241 US officials, and the 1996 bombing. The Khobar Towers complex in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 US air forces.
Today, she is accused of arming rebel groups or other terrorist organizations in the Middle East.
In December, two huge shipments of weapons – including 171 surface-to-air missiles and eight anti-tank missiles – were seized from ships en route to supply Hussein rebels in Yemen.
The idea of removing the designation of terrorism infuriated Washington’s ally Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett recently said that there is still a long way to go between the United States and Iran in the talks.
“And to limit Chutzpa, Iran is demanding the removal of the IRGC,” he said Axios.
‘You know? Now they want to liberate the largest terrorist organization on earth.
Proponents of the deal, however, say it has always been the case to lift Trump-era sanctions.
And Barbara Slavin, director of the Initiative for Iran’s Future in the Atlantic Council, said many individuals and organizations would remain sanctioned with other permits anyway.
“Do we want Iran to slow down its nuclear program or not?” This deal is worth it, “she said.