Daily Alert Archives

Iran Talks Stuck on Removing Revolutionary Guards from Terror Blacklist

(Diplomatic) Laura Rozen - Talks on restoring the Iran nuclear deal, on pause since early March, remain in a state of limbo over the issue of the listing of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on a State Department terror blacklist. After a year of negotiations, a deal to restore a U.S. return and Iranian full compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear pact is basically done save for this issue. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday, "The onus now is on Iran to make...decisions." Price said, "From 2012-2018, there were no significant attacks on U.S. service members, U.S. diplomatic facilities in Iraq....Between 2019 and 2020, the number of attacks by Iran-backed groups went up 400%." The Biden administration finds it very difficult to lift the designation on the IRGC, especially given reported U.S. intelligence of Iranian plots to target former Trump administration officials Mike Pompeo and Brian Hook. It would find it hard to justify internally, to allies on Capitol Hill, and is also under pressure from Israel and Arab partners not to do so.
2022-04-04 00:00:00
Full Article