In response to reports that the Biden administration is considering removing Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations as part of its efforts to renew the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA), articles in the Saudi press have attacked the administration, calling the removal an "absurd" act and a "crime" that will threaten global security.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
The authors claimed that the Biden administration, like the Obama administration before it, is eager to sign a nuclear agreement with Iran even if it comes at the expense of America's Arab allies. The IRGC, they argue, which controls Iran, is the spearhead of regional and global terror, and also operates other organizations, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and the Shiite militias in Iraq.
Removing it from the terror list would constitute "unprecedented" support for terrorism and a "plot" that crosses every red line, changing the balance of power in the region and placing the Arab states, and the world at large, in direct danger.
"America in the Biden era is very similar to America in the Obama era in terms of the vision, policy and inclinations [of its administration]: You have to be leftist and liberal, and seek to impose your agenda on your allies and partners and attack them, and at the same time be friendly towards the enemies of the US and of its allies around the world. This is political absurdity, and the policy towards the Iranian regime is the clearest example of it," Saudi journalist Abdullah bin Bijad al-Otaibi wrote on March 20 in the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.
"The nuclear agreement with the Iranian regime was signed in the Obama era without any consideration for the interests of the Gulf and [other] Arab states, and its only effect is to delay Iran's military nuclear enterprise, rather than stop it. That is why former [US] President Donald Trump opposed the agreement and withdrew from it, and imposed severe sanctions on the [Iranian] regime.
"[But] the minute the administration of President [Joe] Biden came [to power], the American eagerness to revive this wretched agreement reemerged, and so did the attacks on the Arab states – [manifested] not only in blunt statements, but also in [America's] regional and international policy and positions. The Arab and Gulf states did not change [their attitude] towards the US It was the American positions that became more extremist and regressive and gave less consideration to the need to support [America's] allies and maintain the partnership with them.
"After revoking the terrorist designation of the Houthi militia, [the US] has [also] started talking about revoking the terrorist designation of Iran's IRGC, which is the spearhead of [supporting] regional and international terror in the modern era, from Al-Qaida and ISIS [Islamic State] to the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Shiite militias around the world. This is a direct threat and danger not only to the Arab states but to the entire world.
"The first to be harmed by this unprecedented support for terror and terror organizations are the Arab states and Israel. This crosses all the red lines and is an attempt to change the power balance."
Saudi journalist Tariq al-Homayed wrote in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that "media leaks have started to clearly [indicate] that the US administration means to remove Iran's IRGC from the blacklist of foreign terrorist organizations, in return for Iranian promises to restrain the IRGC if the 2015 nuclear deal is renewed. … Removing the IRGC from the blacklist of terrorist organizations at this point will be as bad as America's disgraceful withdrawal from Afghanistan last year.
"True, the US wants to withdraw from the region and turn to [dealing with] China, but this will [only] give China, Russia and Iran unprecedented power and freedom [of action]. … If this is not political recklessness, what else can we call it? Removing the IRGC from the terror list will grant Iran freedom of action in the region as part of a Russian-Chinese-Iranian alliance. The one who clearly benefits from the current war in Ukraine is China …
"By lifting the sanctions on the IRGC, the US administration will realize the aspirations of former president Barack Obama, who, in his famous interview with the Atlantic magazine [in April 2016], titled The Obama Doctrine, spoke about [Saudi Arabia] sharing the region with Iran. … Removing Iran's IRGC from the sanctions list is more like a conspiracy against the entire region than a conspiracy against one specific country in it. … Lifting the sanctions on the IRGC – when Hezbollah is going wild in Lebanon and Syria, the Iran[-backed] militias are sowing destruction in Iraq and the Iranians continue to assist the Houthis in Yemen – is a crime against our region. Iran and the IRGC are responsible for the blood spilled here."
Kurdish journalist Nezar Jaff worte on Marct 17 in Elaph.com that the Biden administration "has not learned a lesson from the mistake it made when it removed the Houthis from the list of terror organizations, and proof of this are the reports from various sources that it now means to remove Iran's IRGC from the list of foreign terrorist organizations, in return for Iranian promises to restrain this powerful [force]. The most ironic thing is that the Houthis are like … Hezbollah in Lebanon and like the Shiite militias in Iran: all of them are arms of the IRGC and follow its orders.
"The Arab indifference towards the Biden administration is growing in light of his policy in the region, which clearly repeats the mistakes of the Obama administration, that was eager to sign the nuclear agreement in 2015. In fact, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt have distanced themselves from the American policy and adopted a policy geared towards safeguarding their interests, far from the [American] policy that purports to safeguard the Arab interests but in practice does the opposite."
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
"This Arab policy is 100% justified in light of the hypocrisy and lies of the Biden administration, which can no longer deceive anyone now that reports have been leaked that it intends to delist the IRGC … and [also] to announce [the signing of] a nuclear agreement [with Iran]. The countries of the region obviously do not trust Iran to adhere to this agreement. They are convinced that Iran will in no way restrain the IRGC, for the simple reason that it is the IRGC controls Iran and implements the ideology of the ayatollahs' regime. The IRGC is the ruler, not the ruled!
"Has Iran complied with its commitments in the 2015 nuclear agreement? Did that agreement restrain the Iranian ayatollahs' mad rush to manufacture a nuclear bomb? The answer – without even pausing to think – is clearly no. Today, when the Biden administration is trying to deceive the Arabs and sell them false promises about restraining the IRGC in the region, this arouses contempt and scorn."
Featured on JNS.org, this article was first published by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
