Miller-Meeks: ‘Maintain terrorist listing for Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’

Rep. Miller-Meeks

U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) denounced the Biden administration’s reported consideration of removing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the designated list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) as part of a new nuclear deal with Iran.

“For years the IRGC has supported and participated in numerous human rights abuses and terrorist activities. They should not be removed from the FTO list until they can prove that they have ceased all terrorist activity,” Rep. Miller-Meeks said in a March 23 statement. “We should only be lifting FTO designations if Iran drastically changes their well-documented support for terrorist groups around the world.”

If the IRGC were to be removed from the list while it continues to engage in and support acts of terror, she said a message would be sent to the world saying “our sanctions carry no weight and are nothing more than political tools that can be cast aside whenever it is convenient.”

Rep. Miller-Meeks also joined more than 80 of her Republican colleagues in requesting that the IRGC remain on the FTO list.

“We are united in strong opposition to any move to legitimize the IRGC’s reckless, destabilizing, and antisemitic actions throughout the Middle East,” the members wrote in a March 22 letter sent to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “The IRGC continues to actively participate in acts of terror and destabilizing actions in the region — particularly against one of our closest allies, Israel.”

The lawmakers said the IRGC also is a chief supporter of other FTOs and insurgent groups in the region, such as Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Houthi insurgency, according to their letter.

“The IRGC’s actions have led to decades of instability and conflict across the Middle East and the group is responsible for countless deaths, including more than 600 U.S. troops during the occupation of Iraq,” they wrote. “It is critical that we stand by our allies and partner nations and ensure that the IRGC is not given the benefit of removal of sanctions by delisting them as a FTO.”

Such action, wrote the members, would reward the IRGC with greater freedom to increase its terrorist activities and significantly bolster its financial resources.

“It is unconscionable that the United States should fail to exert maximum pressure on an evil and malign organization like the IRGC,” wrote Rep. Miller-Meeks and her colleagues. “We strongly urge against any decision that would legitimize the IRGC and allow them to further threaten democracy and freedom around the world.”