UANI Statement on the IRGC's Designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization

(New York, N.Y.) - United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) Chairman Senator Joseph Lieberman and CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace released the following joint statement today regarding the designation of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO).

"UANI applauds the Trump Administration's decision to designate the IRGC as an FTO. For years, the United States has listed Hezbollah, Kataib Hezbollah and the al-Ashtar Brigades as FTOs, but not the main source of those groups' manpower, materiel and money: the IRGC. Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, and the IRGC is the primary vehicle through which the regime funds terror organizations and proxies abroad. The IRGC is also the custodian of the regime's illicit ballistic missile program. Furthermore, the IRGC dominates large swathes of Iran's economy - owning and operating an opaque network of countless companies within the market. The IRGC's designation as the terrorists they are should serve as a major warning to any business investing in Iran and will deny Tehran the financial assistance it needs to realize its hegemonic ambitions."

For 35 years, Iran has been designated as a state sponsor of terror. The IRGC has been instrumental in the regime's habitual use of terrorism against the United States and its allies throughout the world. In addition to carrying out direct attacks, Tehran has committed terrorism by proxy through Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and militias in Iraq, Syria and Bahrain. Iran has a long history of terrorist attacks against the U.S. and other Western countries, carrying out bombings, abductions and hijackings.  

Any company entertaining the notion of doing business in Tehran should first recognize that it is at significant risk of transacting with an IRGC front company. It is flatly illegal for American and international companies to do business with the IRGC, but corporate compliance officers and country managers are simply powerless to know for sure if their companies are doing business with a reputable Iranian company or one that is secretly operated, managed and even owned by the IRGC. 

For years, UANI has carried out its IRGC Campaign to identify companies and entities that are owned, operated or controlled by the IRGC, and highlight relationships between these entities and multinational corporations. Since the end of the Iran-Iraq War, the IRGC has assumed a dominant role in the Iranian economy. The IRGC now largely controls the petrochemical, banking, construction and telecommunications sectors in Iran. The U.S. Treasury Department has determined that the National Iranian Oil Company itself is an agent or affiliate of the IRGC. As CIA Director in 2017, Michael R. Pompeo estimated that the IRGC controls around 20% of Iran's economy. 

UANI has consistently argued that the IRGC should be labeled as an FTO. In October 2017, UANI CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs' Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, in which he encouraged the Trump administration to begin with such a designation.

Over the years, UANI has closely tracked the IRGC's methods and mayhem. For a full history of the organization and its leadership, please click here. To understand the IRGC's leading role in Iran's intelligence community, please click here. And to follow the IRGC's role in spreading Iran's ideology around the world, please click here.