Iranian Guard begins ground forces drill near Iraqi border

By World Israel News Staff and AP

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) Thursday began a ground forces drill near the Iraqi border, state TV reported.

The report said the annual exercise, dubbed the “great prophet,” is ongoing in the southwest of the country and has aimed at readiness and assessment of forces.

Drones and helicopters will be used in the drill, too.

In recent months, Iran has increased its military drills as the country tries to pressure President Joe Biden over the nuclear accord, which he has said America could reenter.

A week before that, Iran’s navy fired cruise missiles as part of a naval drill in the Gulf of Oman, state media reported, under surveillance of what appeared to be a U.S. nuclear submarine. That came after speedboats parade in the Persian Gulf and a massive drone exercise across the country.

President Donald Trump in 2018 withdrew the U.S. from Iran’s nuclear deal, in which Tehran had agreed to limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

In 2019, the United States designated the IRGC as a “foreign terrorist organization” in 2019.

“This unprecedented step, led by the Department of State, recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft,” said Trump said in a statement.

“The IRGC is the Iranian government’s primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign,” he added.

The IRGC joined other terror groups on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations, which include groups Iran funds, such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

“It was the first time the United States named a part of another government as a foreign terrorist organization,” said the State Department.

“In recent years, IRGC Quds Force terrorist planning has been uncovered and disrupted in many countries, including Germany, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Kenya, Bahrain and Turkey,” added the State Department.

According to a State Department fact sheet, the IRGC “plotted a [foiled] terrorist attack in 2011 against the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. on American soil” and “was found liable in 2018 for the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 Americans.”