Iran government backs parliament's 'terrorist' label for US army, CIA

Foreign Ministry: 'The label of terrorist is suitable for the military and security forces of the United States.'

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
US army nuke drill 224.8 (photo credit: US army )
US army nuke drill 224.8
(photo credit: US army )
Iran's Foreign Ministry on Sunday joined the country's Parliament in labeling the US Army and Central Intelligence Agency as terrorist organizations in a largely symbolic move. Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters in his weekly brief that he agreed with the symbolic resolution passed by Iran's hardline parliament Saturday which condemned the two American institutions for its actions in Japan in World War Two, as well as more recently in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. "The label of terrorist is suitable for the military and security forces of the United States," he said. The move is seen as a response to a US Senate resolution Wednesday calling for Iran's Revolutionary Guard to be labeled a terrorist organization. Hosseini called the Senate's move an "unprecedented act" and warned that "even pointing to this issue is a threat and danger to global peace and security." "It will weaken international bodies," he said. The Iranian move is largely symbolic and still has to be ratified by the country's hardline constitutional watchdog to come into effect - and even then would have little impact on the two countries already abysmal relations. It is, however, significant that a government body is joining the hardline parliament in its description of American institutions as terrorist organizations. The US move to classify Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard force as terrorist would be first such move against a foreign government entity and would freeze any of its assets under US jurisdiction. It would also allow the US Treasury Department to move against firms subject to US law that do business with the Guards, which have vast commercial interests at home and abroad. Tensions are high between Iran and the US over Washington's allegations that Iran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons and supplying Iraq's Shiite militias with deadly weapons that have killed US troops. Iran denies both claims. Iran and the US have not had diplomatic ties since Iranian students took American diplomats hostage in Tehran following the 1979 overthrow of US-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi