Iran warns Europe: Designating Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps a terrorist group ‘declaration of war’
BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
Iran’s threat presents a big dilemma for Western leaders, as Iran is the most powerful Shia country in the world, and Western leaders are still willfully blind to the fact that one cannot separate politics from mainstream Islam. Sharia is divine law. For mainstream Muslims, no law in the world transcends it. The Sharia is both religious and political. But if one believes that Islam is a religion of peace and not a political system, then how can one declare the world’s most prominent Shia regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is a terrorist group? Particularly when the IRGC serves the function of defender of the Islamic Republic.
‘National Decision’ Declaration On Iran’s Islamic Revolution Day: ‘We Warn The European Countries Not To Make An Historic Mistake By Declaring The IRGC Terrorist – Because We [Would] See This As A Declaration Of War On The Iranian Nation; In Such A Case, They Will Be Forced To Meet The IRGC At Strategic Straits And In Difficult Regions,’” MEMRI, March 13, 2023:
The Iranian regime mouthpiece Kayhan published, on February 12, 2023, the text of the “National Decision” declaration that was read out at the end of the Islamic Revolution Day march in Tehran the previous day. The declaration was featured on the front page, next to coverage of the marches across the country.
Kayhan wrote: “Yesterday, 44 years after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the people took to the streets chanting ‘Death to America’ more gloriously than ever, and showed more clearly than before that they love [Supreme] Leader [Ali Khamenei] and the revolution.”
The National Decision declaration glorified the Quran and the two leaders of Iran’s Islamic Revolution – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the revolution, and his successor Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader. Both of them, it said, had restored the grandeur of Islam as rightful leader of humanity, a task undertaken by Iran. It reiterated absolute acceptance of Khamenei’s leadership, and his many acts of grace in the face of those participating in the widescale civil protests against him and his regime in the past months. Emphasizing hostility towards the “Satanic front” – i.e. the West, led by the U.S. – and its culture and liberal values, particularly with regard to women, it expressed support for the resistance front’s struggle against Israel and against the Arab countries that are Iran’s rivals, and for “strengthening Iran’s strategic depth.” The National Decision also included a warning to the European countries not to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, and threatened the West with operations in “strategic straits” and other regions.
The following is a translation of the Iranian regime’s National Decision declaration:
“Praise and thanks be to God, who brought the Quran to light up our path and the great blessing of the Prophet of Mercy [Mohammad] and his supporters [the Shi’ites] to guide us in passing through the darkness of ignorance, so that we will be able to actualize the good and desirable life of sacrifice to the Kingdom of God, which brings human happiness. [All] this is by grasping the strong rope and turning to the guides of revelation [i.e. the founder of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and his successor Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei].
“With endless gratitude that at the height of modern ignorance, when the world has become full of regimes of heresy, of polytheism, and of tyranny, we are privileged to be present in the era of the great Khomeini, the reviver of the pure Islam and the awakener of the people who descend into sin, and in the era of the great man [Khamenei] from the same seminary as the wise elder [Khomeini], the candle of whose existence warms, like the blazing sun, the existence of the oppressed and barefoot, and who led to the increasing authority of Islamic Iran, and instilled disappointment in the camp of the arrogance [the West, led by the U.S.].
“The school of pure Islam that gives life [i.e. the Shi’ite Islamic Revolution] was trapped in the damage of ignorance of history and caught up in misinterpretations and misperceptions that were sometimes specific, revived itself by virtue of the guidance of the enlightened elder [Khomeini], and [continues to do so] today by virtue of the leadership of the Supreme Leader of the Muslims of the world [i.e. Khamenei]. We owe the continuation of the glorious Islamic revolution and Iran’s stable peace and security to the struggle and heroic deeds of the martyrs [during] the Iran-Iraq war, to the martyrs who defended ‘the holy places’ [i.e. the Iranian soldiers sent to Syria], particularly the commander of hearts, the martyr Haj Qassem Soleimani [the late IRGC Qods Force commander killed by the Americans in January 2020], to the martyrs [working in] health and security, and to the patience of their families. We believe that in the second phase of the revolution, the new foundations of the great Islamic civilization are being laid by emphasizing the discourse of the promised happiness that has no substitute and that grants identity.
“Now, on Revolution Day, after [44 years] of the victory of the Islamic Revolution, with the motto ‘Iran is strong, 44 years of honor,’ at the end of the national and glorious march of today that is an expression of the coalescence of determination and unity of the word and solidarity of the Muslim nation of Iran, we declare loudly, with ‘Allah akbar [God is great], Khamenei is the leader,’ the following:
“We, the nation of velaya [i.e. the rule of the jurisprudent, Khamenei], consider him the most precious legacy of the Imam Khomeini. Today, more than ever, the light of his existence is difficult for Satans, bats, and people of darkness and ignorance…..