IntelBrief: Iran Demands Removal of Revolutionary Guard Terrorist Label

Bottom Line up Front

• The U.S. refusal to remove the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) terrorism designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the key remaining sticking point to reviving the 2015 multilateral Iran nuclear agreement.
• The FTO designation of the IRGC has been deemed by some as controversial, because that label was intended to apply to terrorist groups, not components of national governments.
• The IRGC would remain subject to a wide array of U.S. sanctions even if the FTO designation of the IRGC were revoked.
• It remains a matter of debate exactly how IRGC operations in the region have been impacted by the imposition of progressively more comprehensive U.S. sanctions since 2007.