Uh-oh!
Hmmm... seems a selective designation, since the State Department defines terrorist organisations as being "sub-national" and "clandestine." As for national groups, the Pakistani Intelligence and Iraqi Army wouldn't fare much better!
An 11th-hour Gulf of Tonkin? Or just an attempt to turn up pressure in the face of ineffective sanctions and UN reluctance to push harder against continued uranium enrichment?
Bush administration squeezes Ahmadinejad's government, closing loop on cash supplies
(AXcess News) Washington - White House contacts leaked to the press word on Iran's Iranian Guard being placed on the U.S. list of known terrorist organizations following Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Kabul, Afghanistan yesterday. The move is seen in response to comments made by the Tehran leader over his country being involved in terrorist acts while visiting Afghan President Karzai Tuesday.
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters Tuesday that Iran's President Ahmadinejad "didn't seem to be aware of what was going on in his own government," when he said that Iran was not supplying terrorists with weapons.
On the eve of Ahamdinejad's visit to Kabul Afghanistan, Afghan authorities had uncovered a cross-border smuggling operation of Iran-made roadside bombs in which a cache of over 100 bombs were seized. Tuesday, as Ahmadinejad spoke, President Karzai was supposedly informed of the Iranian weapons cache seizure, though he did not comment. Instead, President Karzai thanked Ahmadinejad for offering aid to Afghanistan whereupon six agreements were signed by diplomats of both countries following the press gaggle in Kabul.
By declaring the Iranian Guard a Terrorist organization, the U.S. Department of Treasury could cut off all financial money flows into or out of the United States by any parties or individuals known to be associated with that group. While not unexpected, placing the Iranian Guard on the U.S. watch list of known terrorist organizations comes at a time when President Bush has made it clear that as long as Ahmadinjad's government continued to support terrorist organizations there would be no possible chance of meaningful talks between the United States and Tehran. Bush had said during a visit with Karzai in Washington last week that while Karzai had his view towards Iran, Bush had his own and that didn't include believing that Iran was helping to prevent terrorist attacks but was supplying terrorist organizations instead. The leak to the press on the Iran Guard being added to the list of known terrorist organizations is seen as a jab at both Ahmadinejad and Afghani President Nouri Karzai for his open-armed welcome offered to Tehran - both while Washington last week and yesterday when Ahmadinejad visited him in the Afghan capitol of Kabul. White House spokesperson Dana Perino told reporters late this morning that it would be up to the U.S. State and Treasury Departments to declare Iran's Guard a terrorist organization, not President Bush's office, though when asked by pointedly by reporters if that would happen, Perino said, "It would be inappropriate for me to comment on any possible actions that may or may not be taken," said Perino.
Perino went on to say, "We would like Iran to behave in a way that the rest of the world could embrace them. Unfortunately for the people of Iran, they continue to defy the international community."
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's department would be first in line in designating the Iranian Guard a terrorist organization before U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson could act. The move by Rice would been seen as a way of squeezing companies involved with supplying Iran that in the past were not covered by sanctions. Whether the Bush administration's plans were to black list the Iranian Guard now or later, the White House has made it known that it would not condone Tehran's actions in supporting terrorism under any means.