In reaction to President Donald Trump’s announcement last Friday of his administration’s new policy towards Tehran, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) called the president “featherbrained” and insisted it would continue to improve Iran’s missile program, the IRGC-related Tasnim website reported Thursday.
The statement, according to Tasnim, said that “the featherbrained US leader’s insults against the Iranian nation and his plan to impose sanctions on the IRGC were an indication of their anger at the IRGC’s effective role in the region and reveal that the US and Israel have failed to carry out their ‘evil’ schemes to redraw regional borders and undermine Muslim nations.”
Praising Iran’s national unity following the Trump speech, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, said “Iranians–boys, girls, men, women–are ALL IRGC” – the IRGC stated that its “raison d’être is an unwavering battle against the hegemonic system and Zionism and safeguarding the Islamic Revolution and the interests of Iran.”
Trump called on the international community to oppose Iranian aggression and said that the United States would designate the entire IRGC a terrorist organization. Trump also said that he was calling on Congress to address Iran’s ballistic missile development program, which United Nations Security Council resolution 2231 “calls on” Iran not to pursue. The goal, the president said, was to “prevent Iran from developing … an intercontinental ballistic missile.”
The IRGC said that it would continue to “accelerate” Iran’s ballistic missile development program.
In December 2015, prior to implementation of the nuclear deal, President Hassan Rouhani ordered an acceleration of Iran’s ballistic missile program. Rouhani dismissed U.S. sanctions placed on Tehran for its missile program and said they would “illegally interfere in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s programs for boosting the defense power.” At the time, a number of Security Council resolutions prohibited Iran from testing ballistic missiles.
[Photo: Tasnim News Agency]