Iran: US would be siding with IS if it designates Guards a terror group

Iran says that the United States would be siding with the Islamic State group if it designated the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization.

“The Guards are the defender of the nation,” government spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht tells reporters.

“If the US wants to put the Guards on the terrorist list, it puts itself in the camp of terrorists.

“Any country that wants to have such a position about the Guards will share this view with the Daesh terrorists,” he says, referring to IS by an Arabic name.

Reports in the Financial Times and other media have suggested US President Donald Trump may call for the Guards to be designated a terrorist group as part of a tougher strategy against Iran to be announced in the coming days.

— AFP