Iran - Rouhani: Hysterical remarks against Mojahedin, defending war, terrorism and stockpiling ballistic missiles

National Council of Resistance of Iran

Rouhani, president of the Iranian regime, in his speech in the parliament on October 29th, showed his anger and fear of the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance. He also emphasized the continuation of criminal meddling of the regime in the region and its plan for the production of ballistic missiles and their storage.
He said: 'We produced, are producing, and will produce ... We shall not hesitate in producing and storing any weapon me might need and using them at the time necessary to defend ourselves.”
Rouhani insolently claimed the United States has undermined 'Syria's security', 'Lebanon's security', 'Iraq’s security' and 'stability and security in Afghanistan' and planned to 'divide Iraq', but it was the mullahs’ regime that 'helped the  people of Iraq and Syria” and did not allow' the territorial integrity of Iraq to be undermined '.
In addition to the US government, French, German and British leaders have repeatedly emphasized in recent weeks that the missile program and meddling of the Iranian regime in the region are a matter of serious concern and should be tackled in coordination with the United States.
Rouhani's remarks come at a time that every day more details are revealed about the mullahs’ regime’s relations with al-Qaeda, ISIL and Taliban, and its financial and logistical support to them. Establishing and strengthening terrorist groups under the banner of Sunni or Shi'a by the regime, and its direct participation in the killing of the people of Syria, Iraq and Yemen .... has left no doubt that this regime is the main source of the crisis and war that has covered the region since years ago.  
While he could not hide his frustration and anger from the popular suport of the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance, Rouhani ridiculed claimed that the clerical regime had driven out the PMOI from the country and the United States had sheltered them. 
On October 26, a 'security official' introduced the PMOI as the cause for 'creating turmoil and chaos next week on the occasion of the commemoration' of Cyrus and said that the PMOI 'by launching protest rallies against corruption and economic problems in the country' divert the rallies by raising slogans against the regime.
On October 12 and 14 when US new Iran policy was announced, Rouhani called Khamenei 'the link between religion and politics,' whose 'orders' should be 'obeyed.' He said disgustingly that the IRGC 'is not only popular among the Iranian people but also popular among the people of Iraq because it  has saved Baghdad; it is also popular with Iraqi Kurds because it has saved Erbil; it is also popular with the people of Damascus and Syria, because it is saved Damascus; it is also popular with the people of Lebanon because it has been a supporter of the dignity and independence of Lebanon. '
Rohani's recent remarks clearly show how ridiculous and deceptive is the claims about the moderation of the Velayat-e Faqih regime, and once the policy of appeasement fails and the Revolutionary Guards, the most criminal force in the Iranian history, are put on the terrorist list, Rouhani and Zarif put aside the moderation mask and become furious advocates of the IRGC and embrace Jafari, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, and Suleimani, the commander of terrorists.
Iranian Resistance has repeatedly stated that all regime officials, from any fraction, are directly responsible for the executions, torture and massacre of political prisoners and the killings and war in Iran and in the region, and they should be included in the terrorist lists and international sanctions and must face justice for their crimes against humanity.

TERRORIST COMMANDER IS BEHIND IRAN'S MEDDLING IN IRAQ

By: Struan Stevenson 

Oct. 24 (UPI) -- The interference of the Iranian terrorist commander Qasem Soleimani in the internal affairs of Iraq has reached scandalous proportions that should sound alarm bells in the West.It has emerged that the general, who commands the terrorist Quds Force, responsible for foreign operations by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, orchestrated the reoccupation of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk

and many other Kurdish regions in Northern Iraq.

Kirkuk and other disputed areas bordering Kurdistan had been held by the Iraqi Kurds for the past two years after the Kurdish Peshmerga military force successfully ousted the Islamic State. The Americans recently listed the IRGC as an international terrorist organization; the Quds Force has been on terrorist blacklists for years.

The Iraqi federal government had been reeling from the apparent takeover of Kirkuk by the Kurds. There was also increasing tension and splits within Kurdistan itself, with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two main parties controlling the KRG and the main opposition to Barzani's ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party.

It now seems that some of the leaders of the PUK, close allies of the Iranian regime, met with Soleimani in the city of Sulaimania the day before the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered Iraqi military forces and pro-Iranian militias, such as Hashd al-Shaabi, to reoccupy Kirkuk. Barzani, his party and many Kurdish leaders and parties have accused some of the leaders of the PUK of betraying Kirkuk and the martyrs who died rescuing the city from IS.

Many of the PUK's senior officials and members of the Peshmerga have condemned those leaders who have betrayed them.

Soleimani had issued repeated warnings to Barzani to withdraw the Peshmerga from Kirkuk or face a fierce Iraqi government offensive. That an Iranian general can so blatantly interfere in the internal affairs of a neighboring country has served to expose the vice-like and malevolent control that the clerical regime has now wrought over Iraq. It has emerged that Soleimani had visited Kurdistan at least three times this month, allegedly telling the PUK leadership that his brutal, pro-Iranian Shi'ite militias would drive the entire Kurdish population into the mountains if they ignored his advice to abandon Kirkuk.

These were not empty threats from a terrorist commander with a reputation like Soleimani. The Iranian general has personally supervised some of the worst atrocities committed in Syria, where more than 70,000 mostly young Afghan refugees, have been sent by the mullahs' regime to bolster Bashar al-Assad in his blood-encrusted civil war.

Soleimani has also advised the vicious Houthi rebels in Yemen and the terrorist Hezbollah in Lebanon. But his primary efforts have been directed against the Sunni population of Iraq, where the ruthless militias under his command have waged a genocidal campaign of ethnic cleansing in Fallujah, Ramadi and Mosul.

Such is Soleimani's growing influence as a key pillar in the Iranian regime's aggressive expansionist policy in the Middle East, that he now reports directly to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, bypassing the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Abadi is now like a rabbit caught in the Iranian regime's headlights, watching helplessly as control of Iraq's armed forces has been almost entirely conceded to the clerical regime.

Now, with the reoccupation of Kirkuk orchestrated and commanded by Soleimani, it appears as if Iran has struck a deal with elements of the PUK to further their interests in Iraqi Kurdistan. This inevitably will sow fresh seeds of conflict in an area already torn by tension and division.

But Kurdistan is fertile ground for Soleimani. Fomenting civil conflict has been his core strategy in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq. The mullahs have become experts in stepping over the corpses of tens of thousands to plant the Iranian regime's flag in increasing parts of the Middle East.

It is perhaps significant that only a few days after the IRGC was designated as an international terrorist organization by the U.S. Treasury, creating huge problems for the Iranian regime where the Revolutionary Guards control over 70 percent of the economy, that Soleimani launched his bid to orchestrate the reoccupation of Kirkuk. His show of strength in Kirkuk represents an outright provocation to the Americans, who must now prove to the world that Soleimani and his terrorist force cannot be allowed to subvert the rule of law.

Draft Senate Iran legislation sets tough new U.S. terms for deal

A display featuring missiles and a portrait of Khamenei, the Mullahs Supreme Leader at Baharestan Square in Tehran

 Draft legislation responding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s refusal to certify the Iran nuclear deal would set tough new terms for the pact, including restoring sanctions if Iran tests a ballistic missile able to carry a warhead or bars nuclear inspectors from any sites.
Critics of the legislation drafted by Republican Senators Bob Corker and Tom Cotton, with support from the Trump administration, said it could put the United States in violation of the international agreement if it were enacted.
The draft, seen by Reuters on Tuesday, was in the works on Oct. 13 when Trump announced he would not formally certify that Tehran was complying with the international nuclear pact, and called on Congress to write legislation to toughen it.
Since then, Corker has met with Senate Democratic colleagues, at least some of whom would have to back the legislation for it to pass. They have insisted that Washington work with European allies who co-signed the deal before making any changes.
The draft legislation, a proposed amendment to the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act passed in 2015, broadens a required administration assessment on whether Iran is complying with the pact to add factors related to issues from trade to whether Iran is using commercial aircraft licensed by the United States for non-civil aviation purposes.
As previously reported, it would instantly reimpose, or “snap back” sanctions lifted under the agreement if Iran were deemed capable of developing a nuclear weapon within a year.

Iran: Thousands demonstrate against government corruption and plundering (Video + Photos)

Demonstration by thousands of Iranians chanting we retaliate against those who are killing our brothers

Demonstration and rally by thousands of investors who have lost their savings to the corrupt government officials in a plundering scheme. 

 Iran, Oct. 15, 2017 - Eye witness and informed sources in the Iranian capital city, Tehran said according to a planned and in advance organized protest rally, plundered and looted shareholders of different government affiliated financial institutions gathered on Sunday, October 15, 2017 in front of the Judiciary building on Keshavarz Blvd. in Tehran and walked toward the department of Justice. 

The protesters chanted anti-government slogans including:
No nation has seen such a dishonest government
Saif [referring to the Central Bank President], shame on you, stop lying
We will not live under tyranny
Our country is a thieves' house, and it is the only example in the world
Justice, justice is our decisive right
And, the Police must catch the thief

In addition to Tehran plundered shareholders, those who have lost their savings to Caspian Financial institution also joined the sit-in protest rally which has been going on for nearly a month now. On Saturday, Oct. 14, a group of Caspian plundered shareholders arrived from the city of Kerman to show their solidarity with their sympathizers in Tehran. They joined the protest already formed in front of the Justice Department and were greeted by the other fellow protesters,

 

Plundered people from different cities went to Tehran

Plundered people from different cities went to Tehran

Plundered people from different cities went to Tehran

Plundered people from different cities went to Tehran

 Caspian Financial institution shareholders also joining the sit-in protest rally in Tehran in front of the Judiciary.

STATEMENT BY SASC CHAIRMAN JOHN McCAIN ON PRESIDENT TRUMP’S IRAN STRATEGY

Senator McCain comments on President Trumps new Iran policy

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement on President Trump’s Iran strategy:

“For years, the Iranian regime has literally been getting away with murder. Meanwhile, the United States has lacked a comprehensive strategy to meet the multifaceted threat Iran poses. The goals President Trump presented in his speech today are a welcomed long overdue change. They offer the United States a path forward that centers our policy towards Iran on its destabilizing regional ambitions rather than its nuclear program alone. I look forward to learning more about the specifics of this strategy, and the Senate Armed Services Committee will conduct thorough oversight of our military’s role in it.

“Iran has routinely threatened the United States and its neighbors for decades. It is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Its support of the murderous Assad regime has contributed to hundreds of thousands of deaths and the displacement of millions, destabilizing nations across the Middle East. Its continued development and testing of ballistic missiles flouts international law. Its rampant abuse of human rights within its own borders and around the Middle East is horrific. And it has the blood of hundreds of American soldiers on its hands from its support of anti-American terrorist groups and militias throughout the region. And yet, despite this long track record of Iranian malign activities, the Obama administration consistently treated Iran narrowly as a non-proliferation problem rather than as a geopolitical one. This legacy of failure casts a long shadow on our present situation.

“I did not support the nuclear deal at the time it was proposed, and many of its specific terms will make it harder to pursue the comprehensive strategy we need. In that sense, I agree with the President that the deal is not in the vital national interests of the United States. I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress on additional legislation to increase sanctions and other pressure to hold Iran accountable for its broader destructive behavior in the region. I am also eager to collaborate with our partners and allies to revisit the most problematic provisions of the nuclear deal, and support a unified, forceful international front in the event that Iran materially breaches the terms of the agreement.”

New intelligence report reveals plot of IRGC mercenaries in Syria

The IRGC has amassed over 100,000 mercenaries from Lebanon, Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan according to the NCRI. (File Photo)

 A report by the Paris-based Iranian oppositionhas revealed that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards are amassing Afghan, Iraqi, Lebanese and Pakistani mercenaries in Syria to control a pivotal road between Iraq and Syria that reaches the eastern coast of the Mediterranean.

The report published on Wednesday by the National Council of Resistance of Iran ( NCRI ) comes as the United States is reviewing the inclusion of the IRGC and associated militias on the US terrorism list.

The IRGC has been deploying its militias in Syria at numbers estimated to be more than 100,000 members. The foreign fighters are deployed as mercenaries in clear violation of international norms and laws, the report stated.

Afghan militia flights

The report shows that the IRGC conducts weekly flights from Tehran via Mahan Air and Iran Air to Damascus to transport roughly 2,000 Afghan mercenaries every Tuesday.

The men are registered as volunteers and are recruited from among Afghan refugees in exchange for money and grants.

The report also states that the fighters are presented with identification cards upon their arrival in Damascus and then transferred to the Shibani camp west of the capital to receive their assignments.

Furthermore, mercenaries who have not received training in Iran undergo a training course in this camp. 

Iraqi brigades in Deir el-Zor 

The report shows that an Iraqi group in Syria, called the Imam Ali Brigades, underwent a training course for several months at a secret IRGC center on the outskirts of Tehran. “Part of the forces of this group are in the Deir el-Zor area, and their commander is Muhammad al-Bawi called Abu Abed” the report stated.

According to the NCRI in the past months, the IRGC has focused its forces on occupying the ground route between Iraq and Syria. “To this end, the commanders of the Revolutionary Guards have control over the command of the militias on both sides of the border, they want to gain control over about 400 kilometers of that border strip,” the report read. 

Ground operations

Ground operations command in Syria is controlled by the IRGC according to the Intel report which added that the country has been divided into several operational fronts.

Each front has a command post, details of which were disclosed by the Iranian Resistance in July 2016. Javad Qorbani, an IRGC commander, in an interview with the state-run Jam-e-Jam newspaper on January 21, 2017, revealed the existence of three garrisons in Syria, including the garrisons of Roqiyah in Aleppo (northern front), the Nabi between Aleppo and Damascus (central front) and Zeinab towards Deraa (southern front).

Javad Qorbani, a commander of Zeinab garrison, said: “At this garrison, we are fighting at 29 points at the same time, meaning we have 29 front lines” the report stated.

Trump to make announcement on fate of Iran nuclear deal Friday

President Trump is expected to announce his decision on the fate of the Iran nuclear deal in a speech on Friday, according to Republican lawmakers briefed by the administration

 White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster was on Capitol Hill Wednesday evening briefing top Republican lawmakers on the administration’s forthcoming announcement.
Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told reporters of the planned Friday speech.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has also been briefing key lawmakers on the administration’s plans for the agreement, and met with Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Maryland, today at the State Department, according to a congressional aide.
As ABC News has previously reported, President Trump is expected to “decertify” the Iran nuclear deal forged by the Obama administration and declare that it no longer serves U.S. national security interests.
That decision not to certify the agreement would give Congress 60 days to re-impose sanctions against Iran that were suspended in 2015 as part of the agreement.
Trump could also ask Congress to impose additional non-nuclear sanctions -- such as penalties against Iran’s ballistic missile program -- on Iran, which would not end U.S. participation in the nuclear agreement. He could also ask lawmakers to amend the existing law requiring he re-certify Iran's compliance with the agreement every 90 days.
Top officials on the Trump national security team, including Defense Secretary James Mattis, have said Iran has technically complied with the nuclear deal.
Republicans critical of the initial deal have urged the administration to enforce it.
“As flawed as the deal is, I believe we must now enforce the hell out of it,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., said in a hearing Wednesday. “Let’s work with allies to make certain that international inspectors have better access to possible nuclear sites, and we should address the fundamental sunset shortcoming, as our allies have recognized.”
Former Secretary of State John Kerry and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, who helped craft and negotiate the agreement with Iran under President Obama, traveled to Capitol Hill Wednesday to brief House Democrats on the nuclear deal and the argument for keeping it in its current form.

Trump already has Iran’s villains screaming

Media reports indicate Trump is about to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group.

By NewYork Post Editorial Board

NewYork Post- October 10, 2017-   President Trump certainly seems to have struck a nerve — given Tehran’s over-the-top response to reports he’s about to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group.

“If the news is correct about the stupidity of the American government . . . then the Revolutionary Guards will consider the American army to be like Islamic State,” declared the group’s commander, Gen. Mohammed Ali Jafari.

Trump reportedly will make the designation as part of a new strategy that’s to start with decertifying President Barack Obama’s deeply flawed nuclear deal.

It’ll hurt Tehran where it counts: The Guard controls some 15 percent of Iran’s gross domestic product. Its tentacles stretch into such key sectors as oil, gas, telecommunications and construction.

All of which will become danger areas for foreign companies looking to invest and do business in Iran.

Shortly before leaving office, Obama loosened Treasury Department rules banning investment with the Revolutionary Guard. Now, as Eli Lake noted last week, those companies will run a significant risk of doing business with a terrorist organization — with all that implies.

Until now, Washington has targeted components and individuals within the Guard — but not the organization itself.

Ironically, this comes amid reports Iran has started cracking down on the IRGC over corruption and profiteering.

Trump’s action will further drain the corps’ economic resources and limit its ability to fund terrorism abroad. No wonder its leader is making angry threats.

Iran attempted to buy nuclear technology illegally 32 times, German agency says

A Ghadr-H missile, center, a Sejjil missile and a portrait of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are on display for the annual Defense Week

Iran tried to obtain illicit technology that could be used for military nuclear and ballistic missile programs, raising questions about a possible violation of the 2015 agreement intended to stop Tehran’s drive to become an atomic armed power, according to three German intelligence reports obtained by Fox News.

The new intelligence, detailing reports from September and October and disclosed just ahead of President Trump’s planned announcement Thursday on whether the U.S. will recertify the Iran deal, reveals that Iran’s regime made “32 procurement attempts … that definitely or with high likelihood were undertaken for the benefit of proliferation programs.”

According to the document, the 32 attempts took place in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The report lists Iran as a nation that engages in proliferation, which is defined as “spreading atomic, biological or chemical weapons of mass destruction.”

Missile delivery systems are also included in the definition of illicit proliferation activity in the report.

The North Rhine-Westphalia agency accused Iran of using front companies in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and China to circumvent international restrictions on its nuclear and missile programs.

The intelligence report, which covered the year 2016 — the Iran deal was implemented on Jan. 16, 2016 — calls further into question Iran’s compliance with the agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

The overwhelming majority of Iran’s illegal attempts covering the year 2016 in North Rhine-Westphalia encompassed technology for the clerical regime’s missile programs.

The year before, the agency recorded 141 attempts by Iran to secure illicit goods for proliferation purposes.

In a second intelligence report obtained by Fox News, the German state of Hessen said Iran, Pakistan, North Korea and Sudan use “guest academics” for illegal activities related to nuclear and other weapons programs. “An example for this type of activity occurred in the sector of electronic technology in connection with the implementation of the enrichment of uranium,” the document reads.

The intelligence officials also cited an example of foreign intelligence services using “research exchanges at universities in the sector of biological and chemical procedures.”

When asked about whether Iran was involved in the academic and research cases, a spokesman for Hessen’s intelligence agency declined to comment.

In April, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio told Fox News he’s “gravely concerned” about Iran’s role in helping Syria develop its chemical warfare program. Rubio, a Republican, said he was troubled by reports that both Iran and Russia were complicit in Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons program.

“Congress and the White House should work together to hold the Assad regime accountable for its war crimes and impose harsh sanctions against its enablers,” Rubio told Fox News.

A third intelligence report, from the state of Saxony-Anhalt, said Iran works “unabated” on its missile program.

“With ballistic missiles and long-range rockets, Iran will be in the position to not only be able to threaten Europe,” it says.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard has unveiled its latest ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers — about 1,250 miles— capable of reaching much of the Middle East, including Israel. United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution 2231 notes that “activities with Iran for nuclear and non-nuclear civilian end uses” should be sent to a technical UN working group on procurement.

When asked if Germany reported the illicit exports and the unlawful attempts to the UNSC, German diplomats told Fox News: 'We have no indication of Iran violating its JCPOA commitments. Quite on the contrary, the recent 2016 Report of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution states that there is no evidence of Iran violating the JCPOA.

'Having said that, we remain worried by Iran’s missile program. The aforementioned report, as well as reports from regional intelligence authorities, shows that Germany is highly vigilant in this regard and will continue to do so. However, this issue is outside the scope of the JCPOA and needs to be dealt with separately.'

David Albright and Andrea Stricker, two experts on Iran’s nuclear program at the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, wrote in April that the UN’s “Procurement Channel is a potentially valuable transparency and verification condition in the JCPOA, aimed at controlling the export of goods to Iran’s authorized nuclear programs and non-nuclear, civil end uses.”

The experts added, “It seeks to deny Iran opportunities, or at least help expose any efforts, to violate the JCPOA and increase the transparency of Iran’s nuclear programs.”

Sigmar Gabriel, the outgoing Social Democrat foreign minister of Germany, has made several trips to Iran since 2015 to boost trade with Tehran. Gabriel is widely considered one of Europe’s most energetic advocates of the Iran deal.

Protest in Iranian cities by nursing students against official fraud

Iran Students of nursing protest officials’ fraud

 Students of nursing and nursing aide staged protest gatherings against fraud of state officials in a number of Iranian cities on Saturday, October 7, 2017.
The protesters, half of them women, protested the undecided status of their employment in the cities of Hamedan, Khorramabad, and Kermanshah (western Iran), Sabzevar (northeast Iran), Shahr-e Kord (south central Iran) and Shiraz (southern Iran).
Addressing the Medical Sciences University, the Health Ministry and the University Jihad Organization, the students in Hamedan held placards which read, “What happened to your promises?” and “We have paid our tuitions and passed our courses. What is our status?”
The students said, “We registered in this course, relying on promises made by the officials. Despite passing the course, not only we do not have any jobs, but we have also lost our time and money.”
“We attended the course despite financial problems. We have paid at least 3.5 million toumans (approx. $1030). Some have paid 5-6 million ($1470-1760),” they added.
Students in Khorramabad also gathered in front of the Medical Sciences University of Lorestan protesting against not being employed in medical centers.
“In 2015, they promised to train us as nurses or nurse’s aides in one year for 3.6 million toumans and give us job opportunities after finishing the course. The course took three years instead of one year and still there are no signs of getting employment,” a female student said.
Other students had previously protested this fraudulent project in Tehran.

Iran will react 'properly' to Trump - Zarif

TEHRAN, Oct 8 (KUNA) -- Iran will react 'properly and at the right time' to the latest stances by US President Donald Trump against the nation, the Iranian foreign minister said on Sunday.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a forum in Tehran, said his country would retaliate over Trump's stance regarding the nuclear deal.
Moreover, Iran will maintain its regional policies, independently, regarding of 'what the others may say,' he added.
Last Thursday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the president would make a decision 'in short order' on the future of the Iran nuclear agreement.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday said Trump would be presented with multiple options ahead of the October 15 deadline to certify whether Tehran is complying with the 2015 agreement, which is formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
During his UN speech last month, Trump said: 'The Iran deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into. Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States, and I don't think you've heard the last of it -- believe me.'
The deal was struck in Vienna on July 14, 2015, by Iran, on one hand, and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States - plus Germany), and the European Union , on the other.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatens retaliation on American army and bases

Commander of Irans Revolutionary Guard said the U.S. should move its military bases farther from Irans borders if it imposes new sanctions against Tehran, the official IRNA news reports

 Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps has warned the US not to designate it as a terrorist organisation, suggesting the US military could be at risk of attack if the elite force is targeted with sanctions. US president Donald Trump is this week expected to decertify the nuclear accord that Tehran signed with major powers in 2015 and could impose additional sanctions on the Islamic Republic. If that happens, it would be the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that Iran’s military has faced sanctions. So far, entities and individuals affiliated to the Guards — one of the most powerful arms of the regime with numerous business interests — have been the target of international sanctions but not the Guards themselves. “If media speculations on a foolish [decision] by the US administration to designate the Guards as a terrorist organisation are correct, the Guards would treat the US army similar to [the way it treats] Daesh [Isis] in the world, particularly in the Middle East,” said Brigadier General Mohammad-Ali Jafari, the Guards’ senior commander, referring to Iran’s fight against Isis in Iraq and Syria. Jafari said Iran would consider enforcement of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) — which Mr Trump signed into law in August to enact new sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia — as the unilateral exit of the US from the nuclear accord. This, he said, would give the Islamic Republic “an opportunity to boost its conventional defensive, missile and regional programmes”. He added that “should this new US sanctions law be enforced [against Iran], this country [the US] must transfer its regional [military] bases away from the reach of Iranian missiles within a range of 2,000km”. Last week, Mr Trump accused Iran of supporting terrorism and exporting violence, bloodshed, and chaos across the Middle East. Iranian troops and Tehran-backed Lebanese militant group Hizbollah have fought on the same side as Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s six-year civil war and have sided with Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen. Western diplomats in Tehran say a US move against the Guards would further complicate the crisis in the Middle East and could make Iran’s role more disruptive. 
“We have told Americans repeatedly that the Iranian regime will close ranks and become a more dangerous force in the Middle East if the Guards are cornered,” said a senior western diplomat in Tehran. “But this [US] administration may not listen to us.” European countries continue to back the nuclear deal — signed by six major powers and endorsed by the UN Security Council — which restricts Iran’s enrichment activities in exchange for limited sanctions relief. Mr Trump, who has called the accord “embarrassing” and the “worst deal ever”, is expected to decertify it by October 15 which gives the US Congress 60 days to decide on the fate of the deal. 

Trump plans to declare that Iran nuclear deal is not in the national interest

The move would mark the first step in a process that could eventually result in the resumption of U.S. sanctions against Iran

The Washington Post- October 5 , 2017- President Trump plans to announce next week that he will “decertify” the international nuclear deal with Iran, saying it is not in the national interest of the United States and kicking the issue to a reluctant Congress, people briefed on an emerging White House strategy for Iran said Thursday.

The move would mark the first step in a process that could eventually result in the resumption of U.S. sanctions against Iran, which would blow up a deal limiting Iran’s nuclear activities that the country reached in 2015 with the U.S. and five other nations.

Trump is expected to deliver a speech, tentatively scheduled for Oct. 12, laying out a larger strategy for confronting the nation it blames for terrorism and instability throughout the Middle East.

Under what is described as a tougher and more comprehensive approach, Trump would open the door to modifying the landmark 2015 agreement he has repeatedly bashed as a raw deal for the United States. But for now he would hold off on recommending that Congress reimpose sanctions on Iran that would abrogate the agreement, said four people familiar with aspects of the president’s thinking.

All cautioned that plans are not fully set and could change. The White House would not confirm plans for a speech or its contents. Trump faces an Oct. 15 deadline to report to Congress on whether Iran is complying with the agreement and whether he judges the deal to be in the U.S. national interest...

“The administration looks forward to sharing details of our Iran strategy at the appropriate time,” said Michael A. Anton, spokesman for the White House national security council.

Other people familiar with the nine-month review of U.S. military, diplomatic, economic and intelligence approaches toward Iran spoke on condition of anonymity because aspects of the policy are not yet set and Trump has not announced his decision.

Trump’s senior national security advisers agreed within the past several weeks to recommend that Trump “decertify” the agreement at the Oct. 15 deadline, two of those people said.

That would start a 60-day congressional review period to consider the next steps for the United States. On its own, the step would not break the agreement among Iran, the United States and other world powers, but would start a clock on resuming sanctions that the United States had lifted as its part of the deal...