NPR News:美国宣布将伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队列为恐怖组织

The Trump administration has taken an uNPRecedented step in its bid to put pressure on Iran. It has designated part of Iran's military, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, as a foreign terrorist organization. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports on what that means.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says this is the first time the U.S. is putting part of another government on the same terrorism list that includes al-Qaida and ISIS.
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MIKE POMPEO: We're doing it because the Iranian regime's use of terrorism as a tool of statecraft makes it fundamentally different from any other government.
KELEMEN: The U.S. accuses the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps of supporting militants across the Middle East — providing Iraqis, for example, with roadside bombs that killed hundreds of Americans during the Iraq War. Now anyone who supports the IRGC could face criminal charges.
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POMPEO: If you're the general counsel for a European financial institution today, there's more risk. It is absolutely the case that the IRGC amounts to a significant piece of the Iranian economy through pure kleptocracy.

KELEMEN: Advisers to President Trump say he wanted to take this step for a long time. Pentagon officials, though, have raised concerns about what this could mean on the ground. A former sanctions adviser, Elizabeth Rosenberg, puts it this way.
ELIZABETH ROSENBERG: People are concerned that it makes it more difficult to work together when necessary. Perhaps that means sharing information to make sure that there's not a military mishap.
KELEMEN: In Syria or Iraq, for instance. Rosenberg, who is with the Center for a New American Security, doesn't really see the upsides since the IRGC faced other sanctions already.
ROSENBERG: It doesn't change the amount of economic pressure on Iran, and it makes it harder to seek denouement or a climbdown with Iran in the future if political circumstances should make that feasible.
KELEMEN: The State Department's point person on Iran, Brian Hook, though, insists this move will not hamper diplomacy. He says the Middle East won't be stable unless the IRGC is weakened. A top Iranian official says the U.S. approach will fail.
Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department.