Axios: Iran rejects US conditions for removing Revolutionary Guards from terrorist lists

The "Axios" website quoted two well-informed American sources and a third Israeli, saying that Iranian officials had publicly refused to reduce the escalation in the region, on the condition that the name of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards be removed from the list of terrorism.

The issue of reversing the decision of former US President Donald Trump to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guards a foreign terrorist organization is one of the outstanding issues that prevent reaching an agreement to return to the nuclear agreement with Tehran.

The administration of former President Donald Trump included the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on this list of terrorism in 2019, about a year after his decision to unilaterally withdraw from the agreement concluded between Iran and major Western powers in 2015.

In recent weeks, the US envoy to Iran, Rob Malley, negotiated the point regarding the Iranian Revolutionary Guard indirectly with the Iranians.

One of the proposals put forward by the United States in the negotiations was for the Biden administration to remove the Iranian Revolutionary Guard from the blacklist of foreign terrorist organizations, in return for a public commitment from Iran to reduce escalation in the region.

And the "Axios" website quoted two American sources and an Israeli official that the Iranians did not agree to the American request and instead suggested signing a side agreement separate from the nuclear agreement in this regard.

A senior US State Department official did not comment on the Iranian position, but said that the United States sent the same proposal to the Iranians two days ago, and is waiting for a response.

Israel, an ally of the United States and archenemy of Iran, formally raised the issue on Friday, in a joint statement by its Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and its Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.

The statement stated that "the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is Hezbollah in Lebanon, Islamic Jihad in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq, and was behind plans to assassinate senior officials in the US government," accusing it of being involved in "the killing of hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians."

"It is impossible for us to believe that the United States will revoke its definition of a terrorist organization," he added.

Sanctions imposed on the Revolutionary Guards freeze any assets of the Revolutionary Guard that may be under US jurisdiction, and prohibit Americans or US-based companies - including banks with branches there - from doing business with them. Also, a prison sentence of up to 20 years for anyone convicted of "providing material support" to the guards.