Behind the Headlines/April 9

Jamshid Chalangi:

In tonight’s program we will look at the flooding disaster across Iran’s provinces of Lorestan and Khuzestan and ask if the Iranian regime has any plans at all to help the victims of this national tragedy.

US President Donald Trump has designated the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organisation.

It is the first time the US has labelled another nation’s military as a terrorist organisation.

Labelling the Guards as a terrorist organisation will allow the US to impose further sanctions – particularly affecting the business sector, given the IRGC’s involvement in Iran’s economy.

We will ask our guests Mohammad Bargheie and Heshmatullah Tabarzadi on what evidence the US has designated the Guards as a terrorist group.

Mohammad Bargheie:

I am astonished that the US could so easily call the army of another country a terrorist organisation.

The US have done a lot of damage to the Middle East. They are following their own interest in the region and think they can do whatever they want.

If I were to judge the US on its own actions then they are the terrorists themselves and have no right to label others as such.

Heshmatullah Tabarzadi:

Mr Bargheie is sitting comfortably in his chair in Washington and slamming the US. The Americans did not have any issues with the mullahs of Iran in the beginning as their ambassador had been in secret talks with them to get rid of the Shah’s regime.

They had even promised each other many business relations but the take over of the US embassy changed all that and the Iranian regime’s involvement in the killing of US soldiers across the Middle East has worsened that situation.

I am not surprised that the US has now decided to name the Guards as a terrorist group.