US mulls placing Revolutionary Guard on terrorist organization list

A number of US intelligence and security services are considering recommending the Trump administration to place the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the US list of terrorist organizations, Reuters quoted senior White House officials as saying. Such a step would help impose additional sanctions on Tehran but complicate US military operations in Iraq where the IRGC is arming and training Iraqi Shiite militias to fight the Islamic State organization. The Revolutionary Guard, considered Iran's strongest, best-trained and most well-armed military force, wields major influence on the government, politics and economy of Iran. The IRGC is made up of five branches: its navy, its ground forces, its air force, whose arsenal includes ICBMs, its "Basij" paramilitary force, and its Qods force that supports, among others, the Hizballah organization in Syria and Lebanon.