Iran hits back at EU, declares its naval, air forces ‘terrorist organisation’

Iran's Foreign Ministry declared naval forces and air forces of all European Union member countries as "terrorist organisations" as a reciprocal action against the EU's recognition of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist entity.

The ministry announced its decision in a statement on Saturday, while calling the EU's action against the IRGC "contrary to fundamental principles and rules" of the United Nations Charter and International Law.

Iran invoked Article 7 of the Law on "Reciprocal Action in Response to the Designation of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps as a Terrorist Organization by the US" passed in 2019, as per the Foreign Ministry statement.

The law stipulates that “all countries that in any way follow or support the decision of the United States to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization are subject to reciprocal action.”

This comes after the EU designated Iran's IRGC as a terrorist organisation, placing the powerful military force in the same category as the Islamic State and Al Qaeda.

Formed after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution to safeguard the Shi'ite clerical system, the IRGC wields significant influence across Iran's economy and armed forces and oversees the country's ballistic missile and nuclear programmes, ANI reported.

Nuclear deal

Meanwhile, the US, Israel and their allied partners continue to push Iran to drop its uranium enrichment operations, expressing concern over Tehran's alleged attempt to make nuclear weapons.

US President Donald Trump has warned Iran to come to terms with the US on the nuclear deal within 10 to 15 days or "it's going to be unfortunate."

Interacting with the reporters on Thursday, the US President said, "We're either going to get a deal, or it's going to be unfortunate for them... 10-15 days would be enough time."

At the Board of Peace inaugural meeting, Trump also repeated the threats, "Now is the time for Iran to join us on a path that will complete what we're doing. And if they join us, that'll be great. If they don't join us, that'll be great, too. But it'll be a very different path."

He stressed that Tehran could not continue destabilising the region."They cannot continue to threaten the stability of the entire region. And they must make a deal. Or if that doesn't happen, bad things will happen if it doesn't," the US President said.

The US has also deployed air and naval forces to West Asia, marking the most substantive deployment to the region since the US invaded Iraq in the year 2003, CNN reported.

The US military is prepared to strike Iran as early as this weekend, though President Donald Trump has yet to make a final decision on whether he'll authorise such actions, CNN said, citing sources familiar with the matter.

(With inputs from ANI)