As the United States and Western countries continue to push for a deal with Iran regarding its nuclear program, Israel is watching with great concern as Washington considers removing Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the terror blacklist.

The possible move by the administration of President Joe Biden would be in return for a public commitment from Iran to de-escalate in the region. A commitment that Israeli officials do not believe would be kept.

Israel has been carrying out its war-between-wars campaign for close to a decade in an attempt to prevent Iran from entrenching itself in Syria and to stop Tehran from smuggling advanced weaponry to its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah.

The IRGC and its Quds Force were the main targets of Israel’s campaign, known in Hebrew as MABAM. Over the years it has carried out thousands of kinetic strikes, in Syria and further from its borders, by land, sea, air as well as cyberkineticly in order to prevent the Iranian regime from reaching its goal of regional hegemony as well as becoming a nuclear state.

While Iran’s conventional military is far from capable of going up against the IDF or American forces in the region, the IRGC-one of eight military branches- the IRGC and its Quds Force is not only the Islamic Republic’s most feared and advanced military branch, it’s also a powerful political and economic player and answer directly to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The IRGC and its Quds Force have been for years involved in countless attacks targeting Israelis and Jews around the world including the deadly 1994 AMIA bombing that killed 85 people and injured hundreds more.

It has also been striking targets across the Middle East with its arsenal of combat drones, killing civilians and destroying strategic infrastructure, like Saudi Arabia’s ARAMCO oil refinery in a 2019 attack. 

The IRGC and its Quds Force as well as local militias such as Kataib Hezbollah and the Popular Mobilization Units have also carried out attacks using drones as well as missiles against US forces in the region, targeting Americans based in both Syria and Iraq. 

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-702004