US turns heat up on Iran

[frigidmagi]

BBC

If the United States designates the Iranian Revolutionary Guards a "terrorist" organisation, the question will be whether it is an extension of its current efforts to isolate Iran economically or a step towards military action.

According to the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Associated Press, the Bush administration is moving towards such a designation. It would probably cover the Revolutionary Guards as a whole though there have been discussions about limiting it to the so-called Quds (Jerusalem) Force that the US accuses of helping to arm Shia militias in Iraq.

Although Iran itself is labelled a "state sponsor of terrorism" by the US State Department, this would be the first time that a national military force had been described as a "terrorist" group.

Financial squeeze

The aim would be to squeeze the international operations of the Guards' many commercial activities. Among these are roles in managing Tehran's airport and underground transport systems.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard fires missile
Iranian Revolutionary Guard on exercise in central Iran
Two UN Security Council resolutions, in December and March, sought to target Iranian trade in material and equipment connected with its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and also named three aviation companies run by the Revolutionary Guards as well as seven of its officers.

This new American order would widen that. It would add to the pressure on US allies and business partners to restrict their dealings with Iran.

The US will also continue to try to get a further Security Council resolution tightening and extending sanctions on Iran. Discussions are expected to be taken up in New York in September but China, for one, has been reluctant to go too far.

The US Treasury Under-Secretary Stuart Levey, in charge of an economic counter-terrorism unit, has been touring Europe this summer asking governments and business, especially banks, to cut Iran off.

Nicholas Burns, Under-Secretary at the Department of State told a Senate committee earlier this year: "We have used our influence to convince leading European banks to stop all lending to Iran. We have convinced European governments and Japan to begin reducing export credits."

However, this pressure has clearly not been enough. Iran is still defying the Security Council demand for it to suspend uranium enrichment to allow talks about its future nuclear plans to be discussed.

In the meantime, the drumbeat of American accusations against Iran for allegedly interfering in Iraq is growing. President George W Bush said at a news conference last week: "The American people should be concerned about Iran. They should be concerned about Iran's activity in Iraq, and they ought to be concerned about Iran's activity around the world."


The American people should be concerned about Iran
President Bush
The unanswered question is whether the new American move would be another step on a path to a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. There have been reports that Vice-President Dick Cheney does not want such an attack ruled out. Others suggest that the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prefers toughening up the diplomatic approach, which is why she is supporting this "terrorist" designation.

Role

The Revolutionary Guard Corps (known as the Pasdaran) was formed after the Iranian revolution in 1979 and then took a major role during the war launched against Iran by Saddam Hussein, during which it developed the concept of the human-wave attack.

It forms a significant but separate part of the Iranian armed forces, with internal security and border protection duties (its forces captured the 15 British sailors and marines in the Gulf earlier this year). But it also operates Iran's ballistic missiles and is believed to have a role in the nuclear field as well.

The US and Israel accuse it of arming Hezbollah in Lebanon as well as the Shias in Iraq.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was once a member, so a move against the Guards as a whole would also be seen as a move against him.

It would also highlight differences about Iran between the US and two of its allies in the region - the governments of Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which maintain close ties to Iran.