Trump Authorizes Treasury to Sanction Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he has authorized the U.S. Department of Treasury to sanction Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization under terrorism Executive Order 13224, a move the leader of the free world said was “long overdue.”

“I am authorizing the Treasury Department to sanction the entire Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for its support for terrorism and to apply sanctions to its officials, agents, and affiliates,” Trump said, referring to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as “the Iranian Supreme Leader’s corrupt personal terror force and militia.”

Trump called for America’s allies to join the United States “in taking strong actions to curb Iran’s continued dangers and destabilizing behavior, including thorough sanctions outside the Iran deal that target the regime’s ballistic missile program and support for terrorism, and all of its destructive activities; of which there are many.”

On Friday, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated the IRGC in a press release coinciding with the commander-in-chief’s announcement.

“The IRGC has played a central role to Iran becoming the world’s foremost state sponsor of terror,” Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said. “We are designating the IRGC for providing support to the IRGC-QF, the key Iranian entity enabling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s relentless campaign of brutal violence against his own people, as well as the lethal activities of Hizballah, Hamas, and other terrorist groups. We urge the private sector to recognize that the IRGC permeates much of the Iranian economy, and those who transact with IRGC-controlled companies do so at great risk.”

The IRGC, through its terrorist proxies in the Middle East, has continued to cause destruction in the region.

Trump noted how IRGC-backed Hezbollah twice bombed the U.S. embassy in Lebanon; once in 1983 and again in 1984. He said, “Iranian proxies provided training to operatives who were later involved in al Qaeda’s bombing of the American embassies in Kenya, Tanzania, and two years later, killing 224 people and wounding more than 4,000 others.” He added, “the regime harbored high-level terrorists in the wake of the 911 attacks, including Usama bin Laden’s son.”

He noted IRGC’s arming of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s military, saying how they are “supplying proxies and partners with missiles and weapons to attack civilians in the region, and even plotting to bomb a popular restaurant right here in Washington, D.C.”

He said, “My highest obligation is to ensure the safety and security of the American people.”

In addition to this designation, Trump outlined his strategy to curb Iran’s nuclear development and said he refused to certify the Iran deal.

“As I have said many times, the Iran deal was one of the worst and one-sided transactions that the United States has ever entered,” noting that “the Iranian regime has committed multiple violations of the agreement.”

On Friday, President Trump noted, “the [Iranian] regime’s two favorite chants are ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel.'”

Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.