President Donald Trump did not rule out the possibility of seeking to “wipe out” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after renewed clashes between Washington and Tehran, which are struggling to return to peace negotiations.
Speaking to Fox Business on Wednesday, Trump claimed Iran had reached out wanting to have a meeting, saying “they always want to meet.” There has been, however, no public evidence to corroborate that claim.
“You came to the conclusion that you couldn’t negotiate with the IRGC—does that mean that you might wipe them out like you did ISIS?” the network’s Ed Lawrence then asked, referring to the Islamic State.
Trump then responded: “Yeah, it does. We will see what’s happening.”
The IRGC is one of Iran’s most powerful organizations and influences several aspects of governance in the Islamic Republic, from politics to security. The IRGC, which currently has an estimated 190,000 active members, rose out of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution as a force meant to protect the Iranian government and has since been the clerical regime’s ideological armed wing, running parallel to Iran’s regular troops.
Since the start of the war in late February, the IRGC has been among those leading Iran’s response, with military and security officials, like commander-in-chief Ahmad Vahidi and IRGC Navy commander Ali Azmaei, pushing to continue the skirmishes with the U.S. instead of backing down.
The U.S. designated the IRGC a foreign terrorist organization in 2019. The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that it sanctioned seven individuals and entities supporting the IRGC’s weapons procurement and for enabling Iran’s destabilizing actions.
The President’s comments and State Department’s sanctions come as U.S. forces launched another wave of strikes on Iranian military facilities, with the U.S. Central Command saying the attack will reduce Tehran’s ability “to threaten innocent mariners crewing commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.” Meanwhile, Iranian forces claimed to have retaliated by targeting U.S. military facilities in the Middle East.
The two countries have been exchanging attacks since accusing each other of violating a Pakistani-mediated memorandum of understanding that aimed to establish prolonged peace but has since been abandoned.
Speaking on Fox News on Tuesday, Trump threatened to attack bridges and power plants should Iran not return to talks next week. Asked Wednesday by reporters whether there was a cutoff date before he’d take action, the President said, “I don’t like giving deadlines, but they pretty much know, they know the story— they better behave.”
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