17 March 2022; MEMO: The administration of US President Joe Biden is considering removing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from its terror blacklist, in return for a public commitment from Tehran to de-escalation in the region, Axios website reported quoting three high-ranking Israeli officials and two American sources.
According to the report, an agreement to restore the 2015 nuclear deal is nearly complete, but Iran's demand that Biden reverse Donald Trump's decision to designate the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation has been a sticking point.
This comes as Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, recently revealed two "pending issues" with the United States before reaching an understanding to revive the 2015 agreement, noting that one of them is "economic guarantees", while refraining from revealing the second.
The Axios report indicated that the IRGC's terror designation means that even if Biden lifts nuclear sanctions to return to compliance with the deal, criminal penalties could still be imposed on anyone doing business with individuals or businesses connected to the IRGC.
According to the sources, the IRGC designation is not directly related to the nuclear deal, and any decision would take the form of a separate bilateral understanding between the US and Iran.
The 11-month long talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal have reached their final stages.
Iran seeks all sanctions be lifted and wants guarantees from the United States that it will not abandon the agreement as it did in 2018 when then-US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.
