Risch: Our Allies Agree – IRGC Delisting Would be Dangerous

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement on reports that the Biden Administration is considering delisting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO):

“My recent conversations with our allies in the Middle East clearly underscore unanimous opposition to delisting the IRGC as an FTO and deep concerns over this administration’s approach to Iran. 

“As our partners confirm, the IRGC is the long-standing leader of Iranian efforts to fuel terrorism across the region. The IRGC actively supports terror proxies in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Bahrain, and Yemen, has conducted numerous attacks against U.S. troops and diplomats, routinely attacks our Gulf and Israeli partners, and threatens tens of thousands of Americans across the Middle East. In addition to the IRGC’s terrorism in the Middle East, the group is plotting active assassination attempts against former U.S. officials and has been implicated in plots to kidnap Americans on U.S. soil.

“Delisting the IRGC would whitewash the group’s ongoing terrorism, discount the IRGC’s terror victims, and dangerously politicize terror designations moving forward. President Biden should heed the warnings from our partners on the front lines of Iran’s terrorist activity and abandon this ill-advised concession to the Iranian regime.”

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