![\"irg\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/IRG.jpg?ssl=1\")
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The United States officially designated Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization, according to a notice published in the U.S. Federal Registry.<\/p>\n
President Trump said last week he would make the symbolic but unprecedented move, which immediately was condemned by Iran and created concerns about reprisal attacks on U.S. forces.<\/p>\n
The IRGC is in charge of Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs. It also is involved with the country’s banking and shipping industries. The new designation makes it easier to prosecute companies or people in the European Union that do business with Iran.<\/p>\n
Iran’s response was entirely predictable.<\/p>\n
A group of Iraq\u2019s Shi\u2019ite militias say they strongly reject Washington\u2019s designation of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO).<\/p>\n
The Tehran-backed groups on April 13 said from the home of Iran\u2019s consul-general in the Shi\u2019ite holy city of Najaf that the IRGC had helped prevent four or five states from falling to Islamic State (IS) militants.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is laughable coming from the No. 1 sponsor of terrorism, America,\u201d said a spokesman for the Badr Organization, which was part of the volunteer forces that helped to defeat IS along with Iraqi government troops and U.S.-backed Western coalition forces.<\/p>\n
Some of the militia groups themselves have been designated as terrorist organizations by Washington.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on April 9 that the United States had made \u201ca vicious move,\u201d adding that the IRGC was at the \u201cfront line of confronting [the] enemies\u201d of the Islamic republic.<\/p>\n
The estimated 100,000-strong IRGC is a branch of the military that also plays a major role in Iran\u2019s economy.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n