NCPDA Statement
Contact: Nasser Rashidi
Dir. Tel: 202-487-6989
October 27, 2007
Iranian Revolutionary Guards are Terrorists as Designated
A 3 decades old wish of the Iranian people has come to pass, and a step forward towards democracy in Iran has been taken. After decades of unabated oppression, terrorism, and murder, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its Qods Force are at last recognized as terrorist organizations. The National Coalition of Pro-Democracy Advocates applauds executive orders 13382 and 13224 covering the IRGC, the QODS, the bank MELLI, and affiliated persons.
As we noted in our May, 2007 statement, “Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is at the center of the regime’s oppression machine. IRG not only executes the campaign of terror in Iran, but also leadership’s apparatus for conducting terrorist activities in Iraq, Lebanon, and elsewhere. It is also the central unit responsible for advancing Iran’s nuclear agenda.”
Although IRGC and its Qods Force have only recently become a perpetually repeated name in the political circles, Iranian people have known and experienced their brutality for decades. IRGC has for nearly 30 years been the violent executers of the Iranian people, the torturers of innocent prisoners, and killers of young Iranians, many of whom without trial or due process. By all international standards, IRGC acts would be considered crimes against humanity.
Today, the world has begun to grasp the scope of their role both inside and outside the Islamic Republic of Iran. Tomorrow, and as it confronts the theocrats in Tehran, the international community will surely appreciate, with better clarity, the horrifying extent of their crimes.
To go forward, we must appreciate that Iranian government can not successfully conduct foreign policy without IRGC and its internal oppression machine. Facing Iranian regime’s terrorist, expansionist, and predatory behavior necessitates embracing of the Iranian people’s plight for freedom and democracy.
The National Coalition of Pro-Democracy Advocates applauds the decision to impose sanctions on the IRGC,
the Qods force, and Iranian financial institutions. We note that these decisive measures, as well as the multilateral sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council will be most effective when coupled with diplomatic and political recognition of Iranian people’s resistance and hence their quest for democracy in Iran.
