On his column in the Saudi daily 'Okaz, journalist Muhammad Al-Sa'ad slammed the U.S. administration for considering the removal of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations as part of its efforts to renew the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran (the JCPOA). Al-Sa'ad claimed that Iran is a "terrorist ally of the U.S." and that the Biden administration wants to delist it in order to make up for the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in an American airstrike carried out in January 2020 under the Trump administration. To remind the Americans of the IRGC's terrorism, Al-Sa'ad listed a series of attacks it has perpetrated against American interests, forces and nationals since the Islamic Revolution in Iran. He added that, given the current U.S. policy towards Iran, nobody should be surprised if in the future the U.S. adopts a lenient attitude towards other terrorist organizations, such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS.
Muhammad Al-Sa'ad (Source: 'Okaz, Saudi Arabia)
The following are translated excerpts from his article: [1]
"Leaks coming out of Washington indicate that the U.S. under Biden is about to remove the IRGC from the terror list and recognize it as a peaceful organization that serves mankind according to the American perception, [i.e.,] through murder and intimidation. The Biden administration clearly wants to make up for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani – the most serious and important decision courageously taken by former [U.S.] president Donald Trump – in order to convey to Iran that the Democratic administration, headed by the godfather Barack Obama, was not pleased with Trump's action and that it is [now] apologizing for the assassination of the terrorist Soleimani. The IRGC will soon become an organization that the American security apparatuses will welcome. Perhaps they will even carry out security coordination with it, in the service of the agenda of the deep state, just like they previously made use of ISIS.
"Let's remember and remind the Americans of some of the crimes perpetrated by the terrorist Iranian IRGC and the murders it committed against innocent people, American and otherwise:
"1. In 1979, Iranian students established their special assembly, which over time became an extremist military organization called the Iranian IRGC, whose role is to fight on the behalf of the Iranian regime and defend the so-called revolution. It was this organization that took over the U.S. embassy [in Tehran] and captured hundreds of diplomats who happened to be in Iran when the revolution took place. They were held for hundreds of days, during which hundreds of secret American documents were stolen, and the incident became a great humiliation for the U.S. Trying to save their honor in a Hollywood-like manner, in April 1980 the Americans carried out a large-scale landing operation called Operation Eagle Claw, sending military helicopters and cargo planes, along with a special fighting unit, to the Tabas [area] in eastern Iran. But from the beginning things did not go well, and a sandstorm compounded the Americans' difficulties and prompted them to withdraw. But then [one of the American] helicopters crashed into a military cargo plane, setting both of them on fire and killing eight U.S. servicemen.
"2. Only two years later, the IRGC perpetrated a direct operation of military 'emasculation' against the American army and elite Marines forces:… On October 23, 1983, two truck bombs were used to attack buildings in Beirut housing American and French troops from the Multi-National Force in Lebanon… The attack killed 307 people, 241 of them American and 58 of them French… There was every indication that the Iranian IRGC was involved in the operation.
"3. In 1988, an American frigate, the USS Samuel [B. Roberts], struck an Iranian mine in international waters and was badly damaged. Reagan's America refused to accept this humiliation and responded militarily with Operation Praying Mantis, in which part of the Iranian navy was destroyed.
"4. The 1996 attack on a [U.S. Air Force] housing complex in the city of Khobar in eastern Saudi Arabia, which killed hundreds of American experts and other innocent people, was perpetrated by terrorists linked to Iran, the IRGC and their proxy in Lebanon, Hizbullah. The Saudi investigation directly implicated Tehran and the full file was handed over to the U.S. administration at the time, but it preferred to ignore the Iranian crime.
"5. Since 1990 and to this day, Iran has been serving as an incubator for the extremist organizations Al-Qaeda and ISIS, because the Iranians arranged for their country to serve as a safe haven for Al-Qaeda commanders and members and as a convenient route through which recruits can travel to and from Afghanistan. These ties led to a number of crimes perpetrated by Al-Qaeda on behalf of Iran, which loved and embraced [this organization], chief of them the events of September 11, [2001]. All [of these crimes], carried out by Osama bin Laden and [Ayman] Al-Zawahiri, were supported by Iran.
"6. After the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iran undertook to foster the terrible murders and bombings [committed] against the U.S. forces by various perpetrators and cells operated by the IRGC. [These attacks] killed hundreds of American soldiers and cost the U.S. billions of dollars. Iran's purpose was not to liberate Iraq; this was a battle between two occupiers [Iran and the U.S.] in Iraq.
"7. The Iranians continued to humiliate the U.S. without fear of punishment: In 2016 the Iranian navy stopped two American military vessels with ten sailors on board. [The Iranians] humiliated and disrespected them, [yet] the U.S. did not respond…
"8. [In September 2020], the IRGC tried to assassinate U.S. ambassador to South Africa Lana Marks, [and] this was not the first attempt [of this kind]. It was preceded by an attempt to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington who later became state secretary for foreign affairs, 'Adel Al-Jubeir, but this attempt was exposed in time.
"Nobody should be surprised if the U.S. apologizes, on its own behalf and on behalf of its people, to the terrorist Osama bin Laden and the criminal Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. We will also not be amazed if we see IRGC commander Hossein Salami and Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, as well as Hassan Nasrallah and [Houthi leader] 'Abd Al-Malik Al-Houthi, received in the White House, as befitting leaders and allies. That is what the radical left in America has created."
[1] 'Okaz (Saudi Arabia), March 24, 2022.
