The United States government has stressed that Iran “is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism” and has added that “there is no disagreement with the European allies on this point”, after the European Parliament designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group.
“There is no more evil exporter of international terrorism than Iran,” said US State Department spokesman Ned Price, who said that the US and the EU “are clear about the need to cooperate to deal with the threats that supposes the Revolutionary Guard”.
Thus, he has argued that “Europe, the United States and countries around the world and all regions of the world have seen very vivid proof of the lethality of the Revolutionary Guard and its repugnant willingness to take innocent lives in its operations.”
“We are committed to continue working with the EU and other allies and partners in the face of this challenge,” Price stressed, adding that “each country or block of countries has its own authority, requirements and factual basis to determine whether a particular group falls on its legislation” on designation as a terrorist group.
On the other hand, he has condemned Iran’s warnings about the possibility of designating European countries and even the EU as “terrorists”. “We do not respond to threats. We condemn them. What we respond to is threats against American citizens and our partners,” he explained.
“The countries of the world, including Iran, know perfectly well that we take any real threat seriously and that we are prepared to respond, and to do so decisively, if appropriate,” he stressed during his daily press conference.
The Iranian Foreign Minister, Hosein Amirabdolahian, on Wednesday called the decision of the European Parliament “inappropriate and incorrect”, a position that he conveyed to the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell.
“Unfortunately, today we witnessed the issuance of an emotional, acute and unprofessional draft resolution by the European Parliament, which is in conflict with political rationality and civility,” he stressed, before stressing that the Revolutionary Guard is “an official and sovereign institution” that plays “an important and vital role in providing the national security” of Iran and the region.
