TEHRAN, 17 August 2007 — Iran’s Revolutionary Guards yesterday dismissed US plans to list the elite force as a terror group in order to strangle its growing economic power, warning that its “iron will” would not be deterred. A US official revealed on Wednesday that President George W. Bush was set to issue an executive order blacklisting the group in order to block the assets of what is one of the Islamic republic’s key institutions.
The Revolutionary Guards — whose influence extends well beyond the military into business and politics — would be the first national military branch included on a US list of individuals and institutions linked to terrorism. “The identity of the Guards has terrified the enemies of this system and the revolution,” the Guards replied in a defiant statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.
“This has forced them to hastily find a pretext to issue superficial measures in a bid to hurt this sacred body.” In a warning to Western powers, it added: “Those who are absorbed by the world’s materialism cannot understand the depth of the spiritual power and iron will of the Revolutionary Guards. The historic victory will be with the children of Islam against the world infidels.”
State broadcasting also reported Guards chief Yayha Rahim Safavi as saying that his organization “... will never surrender to the enemy’s pressure and we will stand with a universal spirit against all domestic and foreign plots.” Washington accuses the Revolutionary Guards of stirring unrest in Iraq and supplying bombs for deadly attacks on US troops, and is seeking to cut off the force’s financial lifeblood.
As well as being an elite military force with tens of thousands of troops, the Guards have also picked up billiondollar building contracts for infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Iran’s president yesterday blasted US plans for a missile defense shield, striking a hostile note at a regional summit aimed at counter-balancing Western influence in resource-rich Central Asia. The summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) emphasized regional self-reliance in energy and security and sent a signal to the West from alliance leaders Russia and China that they should play the dominant role in Central Asia.
At the one-day meeting of a group dubbed “anti-NATO” by one Russian newspaper, Ahmadinejad said US plans for a missile shield in Eastern Europe “concern most of the continent, both Asia and the SCO members.” Washington says the shield is intended to be capable of intercepting missiles fired from rogue states like Iran, but Russia has described the plans as a threat to its security.
“There are still some countries used to speaking the language of force,” Ahmadinejad, guest of honor at the summit in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, said through a translator. Regional energy and security cooperation — not the missile shield — were the main focus of the talks, attended by heads of state from SCO members China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
