Iran warns U.S. not to designate its Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist group • Israel says it stands with U.S. president against Iran nuclear deal • Iran says its ballistic missile program is non-negotiable, denies rumors Tehran open to discuss program.
Iran will consider the U.S. Army equivalent to the Islamic State group if Washington designates its Revolutionary Guards Corps a terrorist group, Iran’s Tasnim news agency quoted the Guards’ commander as saying on Sunday.
The news agency quoted Mohammad Ali Jafari as adding that the U.S. was mistaken if it thought it could pressure Iran into negotiating on regional issues.
On Friday, the White House press secretary announced that U.S. President Donald Trump will soon unveil new responses to Iran’s missile tests, support for “terrorism” and cyber operations as part of his new Iran strategy.
“The president isn’t looking at one piece of this. He’s looking at all of the bad behavior of Iran,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters.
“Not just the nuclear deal as bad behavior,” Sanders continued, “but the ballistic missile testing, destabilizing of the region, number one state sponsor of terrorism, cyber-attacks, illicit nuclear program.”
Trump “wants to look for a broad strategy that addresses all of those problems, not just one-offing those,” she said. “That’s what his team is focused on and that’s what he’ll be rolling out to address that as a whole in the coming days.”
A senior administration official told Reuters on Thursday that Trump was expected to announce he will decertify the landmark international deal curbing Iran’s nuclear program, in a step that could cause the accord to unravel.
In response, the Prime Minister’s Office in Israel relayed a clear message to the White House in recent days, saying that “Israel stands alongside Trump and calls for the cancellation of the nuclear agreement with Iran coupled with renewed, heavy sanctions on Iran. If the agreement is not scrapped, Israel is demanding three key changes: canceling the clause that allows Iran to resume enriching uranium when the agreement expires; imposing a prohibition on long-range ballistic missiles; and imposing sanctions on Iran until it decommissions its nuclear facilities.”
According to PMO officials, canceling the deal or altering it in the way Israel has requested would strengthen the U.S.’s standing in the world and communicate an important message to North Korea, which possesses nuclear weapons.
In the event that the agreement is not canceled, Israel suggests enhancing supervision of suspected nuclear sites in Iran and imposing tougher penalties and fines for violations.
Meanwhile, Friday, Iran said its ballistic missile program was non-negotiable and for defense purposes only, denying media reports suggesting that Tehran may be open to discussing the controversial program with major powers.
“Iran has in all bilateral diplomatic meetings emphasized that its defensive missile program is not negotiable and that it is not inconsistent with U.N. Security Council resolution 2231,” Mehr news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi as saying.
Iran has suggested to six world powers that it may be open to talks about its ballistic missile arsenal, seeking to reduce tension over the disputed program, Iranian and Western officials familiar with the overtures told Reuters on Friday.
Tehran has repeatedly vowed to continue building up what it calls defensive missile capability in defiance of the 2015 nuclear deal. But the sources said that given Trump’s threats to ditch the deal, Tehran had approached the powers recently about possible talks on some “dimensions” of its missile program.
“During their meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly last month, Iran told members of the [world powers] that it could discuss the missile program to remove concerns,” an Iranian source with knowledge of the meeting had said.
Two U.S. officials said Iran had recently been “keeping it alive” by feeding certain media reports and via third parties such as Oman.
A former U.S. Defense Department official said Iran’s overtures had reached Washington in recent weeks.
“Iran has put feelers out saying it is willing to discuss its ballistic missile program and is using contacts … officials who were ‘holdovers’ from the Obama administration,” the former official said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met his counterparts from the six world powers involved in the nuclear agreement, including U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, for the first time, on the sidelines of the U.N. gathering on Sept. 20.
“The Americans expressed their worries about Iran’s missile capability and Zarif said in reply that the program could be discussed,” the Iranian source told Reuters.
A U.S. official with first-hand knowledge of dealings with the Islamic Republic said Zarif had been recycling offers that “have been lying dormant on the table for some time.”
“Zarif knows that if Trump goes ahead and decertifies Iran, it [Iran] will be on the high ground, and the U.S. will be isolated among the [six powers],” the official said.
The State Department declined to comment on whether possible talks on missiles were addressed at the meeting or whether Iran had recently communicated such interest.
But it said Washington remained committed to “countering the full range of threats the Iranian regime poses to the U.S., our allies, and regional stability, including its ballistic missile development.”
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