Iran Designates US Central Command a 'Terrorist Group' Operating in the Middle East

Iran's Supreme National Security Council on Monday officially designated U.S. Central Command operating in the Middle East as a terrorist group.

The move was a direct reaction to the Trump administration earlier in the day designating the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) in a similar fashion.

As the Iranian FARS News Agency reports, the statement from the SNSC

declared the United States a "terrorist government," and blacklisted the "CENTCOM and all its affiliates a terrorist group" to reciprocate Washington's controversial decision to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization. 

In a statement issued on Monday evening, the SNSC—that is headed by President Hassan Rouhani—condemned Washington's move, calling it "an illegal and dangerous action" that poses a "major threat to regional and international peace and security and grossly violates the rules of international law."

In its declaration, the SNSC also invoke the ongoing carnage in Yemen being carried out by the U.S.-backed Saudi coalition, and charged that the U.S. government and its allies "have always been advocates of extremist groups and terrorists" in the Middle East. The American military, the Iranians argued, must take responsibility for "the dangerous consequences of its adventures" in the region.

The move by Tehran followed a formal request by Foreign Minister Javad Zarif submitted to Iran's President Hassan Rouhani:

While anti-war voices in the U.S. condemned the State Department's new designation of the IRGC as just the latest policy by the Trump administration designed to bring the two countries closer to war, the Iranian response was not unexpected.