Bennett: Biden notified me of decision to keep Iran Guards on terror list

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett hails the US for making a final decision to leave the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on a US terror list. He says the US president notified him of the decision recently.

“I laud the US administration, and first and foremost my friend, President Joe Biden, on his intention to leave the Revolutionary Guards where they belong — on the terror list,” he says.

“President Biden is a true friend of Israel who is concerned with its security and continued fortitude.”

He says the IRGC is “the world’s largest terror organization, involved in directing and executing deadly terror attacks and destabilizing the Middle East”

Biden’s decision is thus “correct, moral and just,” he says.

Biden conveyed his decision during an April 24 phone call with Bennett.

The Politico news site first reported on the matter today. An official familiar with the matter confirmed it to The Times of Israel.

Politico cited a senior Western official as saying the IRGC will remain on the terror blacklist, despite the issue being a sticking point in efforts to restore the 2015 nuclear deal signed between Iran and world powers.

Another source added that the decision was conveyed as absolutely final and that the window for Iranian concessions that would reverse it had closed.

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, no. 2 in Bennett’s party, praises the news on Twitter as a “huge achievement” for the prime minister.