Parliament Designates the CIA and U.S. Army 'Terrorist Organizations'

TEHRAN: The Majlis [Iran’s Parliament] has voted to designate the CIA and U.S. Army “terrorist organizations.”

The measure is a largely symbolic response to a U.S. Senate resolution seeking a similar designation for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. (IRGC).

The rationale of the Majlis vote were the atomic bombings of Japan; the use of depleted uranium munitions in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq; support for the killings of Palestinians by Israel; the bombings and killings of Iraqi civilians and the torture of suspect while imprisoned by the United States.

“The U.S. Army and Central Intelligence Agency aggressors nurture terrorists and therefore are terrorists,” said the statement of the 215 lawmakers who signed the resolution on Saturday.

The open session of the 290-member Majlis was broadcast live on state-run radio.The resolution, which urges President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government to treat the two as terrorist organizations, will become law if ratified by the country’s Guardian Council .

The government is expected to wait for U.S. reaction before taking further action. On Saturday, the White House declined to comment.

On Wednesday the U.S. Senate voted in favor of a resolution urging the State Department to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.

Charged with defending Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Guard is revered for their defense of the country during the invasion of Iran by former dictator Saddam Hussein during the 1980s.

Some U.S. Democrats said they feared labeling the IRGC a terrorist group, since this could be interpreted as Congressional authorization for military action against Iran.

Iran and the U.S. haven’t had diplomatic ties since students took American diplomats they deemed spies hostage after the 1979 overthrow of the U.S.-backed regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Iranians have a long list of grievances against the United States, including a CIA-backed coup in 1953 that overthrew democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, which put Pahlavi back on the throne.

More recently, Iranians have been concerned that either the U.S. or the illegitimate Israeli regime will carry out a military strike against its nuclear energy facilities.

Iranian officials have said such an attack would provoke retaliation against Zionist and/or U.S. bases in the region.

Washington has said it is addressing the situation through diplomacy,. but it refuses to rule out the use of force.