Reportedly the Trump administration is considering designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist group. Alex Vatanka explains why it is critical that the U.S. put pressure on this organization:
The IRGC’s intelligence arm is today holding a number of U.S. citizens in prison in Tehran on spurious charges. Its foreign expeditionary branch, the Quds Force, is spearheading Iran’s military interventions in places like Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. From Lebanon to Syria to Iraq and elsewhere, it has helped create a variety of Shiite militant proxy groups that it arms and indoctrinates into its sectarian and anti-American worldview.
At home, the Guard’s generals are the biggest obstacle to the demands of the mass reformist movement that has tried to bring about gradual political change. IRGC bosses regularly threaten reformist leaders with death. Meanwhile, the organization’s insatiable appetite for money has put it in control of about 20 percent of the Iranian economy. . . .
However, while it is true that anti-Americanism is a core part of the worldview of this close-knit group of men at the top of the IRGC leadership, they are far from suicidal. A more forceful U.S. stance against their policies is highly likely to shape their calculations. . . . A [firm] attitude is the only way the United States can push back against the spread of the worst tendencies of the Iranian regime, which are today spearheaded by the IRGC.
Read more on RealClearWorld: http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2017/02/10/targeting_irans_revolutionary_guard_is_the_right_move_112212.html