Iran gives up demand to remove Revolutionary Guards from US terror blacklist

 In return, Tehran is asking that Washington lift sanctions.

By World Israel News Staff

Iran has agreed to relinquish its demand for its Revolutionary Guards to be removed from Washington’s terrorism blacklist in return for a relief in sanctions, the Qatar-linked Middle East Eye news site reported on Monday, citing unnamed Iranian sources.

Last month, President Joe Biden cemented his decision to keep the IRGC on the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, essentially ending talks to reenter the 2015 nuclear deal.

However, according to the report, Tehran has now dropped the FTO demand and is instead calling on Washington to lift sanctions on the Revolutionary Guards’ economic arm, the Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters.

The U.S. did not respond to a request for comment from the London-based outlet but recent statements suggest that it will not back Iran’s latest proposal.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said, “Tehran needs to decide to drop issues that are extraneous to the JCPOA,” without elaborating further.

“We believe that if Iran makes this political decision, we’ll be in a position to conclude and to pursue a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA very swiftly,” he said.

Iran is considering a U.S. demand to issue a public declaration saying it would refrain from targeting senior American officials.

However, Iran is unlikely to agree to such a concession, out of fear the regime would be accused of hypocrisy after publicly vowing to avenge the U.S.’ targeted killing of Quds Force commander, Qassem Soleimani.

“It was very costly for the conservative government of President Ebrahim Raisi to declare that they have reached a deal over not killing US officials including former officials,” a source told the news site.

“This was against their previous promise that killers of the slain Quds commander Qassem Soleimani would be pursued.”