Revolutionary Guards: We rejected offers in exchange for giving up Soleimani’s “revenge”

The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ naval forces, Ali Reza Tangsiri, said that Iran had rejected offers of concessions and the lifting of sanctions in exchange for abandoning plans to avenge the killing of the chief of foreign operations in the “Revolutionary Guards”, Qassem Soleimani, who died in an American strike ordered by the former president. Donald Trump. The United States said that if Iran wants to ease sanctions beyond what is stipulated in the 2015 Iranian nuclear agreement, in a clear reference to the “Revolutionary Guard,” it must address American concerns that go beyond those covered by the agreement.

“We will not negotiate publicly, but if Iran wants to lift sanctions to a greater extent than what is contained in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the nuclear deal), it must address our concerns beyond (which are addressed in) the agreement,” Reuters quoted a US State Department spokesman as saying. “On the contrary, if they do not want to take advantage of these talks to solve other bilateral issues outside the JCPOA,” he added

We are confident that we can quickly come to an understanding on the plan and begin to re-implement the agreement… Iran should make a decision.”

“Under any return to the nuclear deal, the United States will retain and vigorously use our powerful tools to counter Iran’s destabilizing activities and support for terrorism and terrorist proxies, particularly to counter Iran’s Revolutionary Guards,” the State Department spokesperson said. The Quds Force is the foreign and paramilitary espionage arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which controls allied militias abroad. The administration of former US President Donald Trump included the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations in 2019, the first time that Washington officially designates a force parallel to the army of another country as a terrorist group.

Yesterday, the state-run ISNA news agency quoted Tangsiri as saying that “the enemies are sending successive messages (informing) that if we abandon revenge for General Soleimani, they will make some concessions or lift some sanctions.”

Tangsiri continued: “These are pure illusions. The Supreme Leader (Ali Khamenei) stressed the necessity of revenge, and the commander of the Revolutionary Guards (Hossein Salami) said that revenge is inevitable, and we will choose the time and place for that.” He said: “These people thought that they had eliminated (…) Soleimani, but we see how General Soleimani has multiplied in the world.”

Yesterday, the government agency “ISNA” had raised doubts about the validity of reports about the US condition to remove the Revolutionary Guards from the terrorist list in exchange for giving up revenge for Soleimani.

Tungstenic confirmation comes; The leader of the Revolutionary Guards, after NBC News reported, last weekend, that Iran responded with a counter-proposal to the US administration’s proposal not to retaliate against US officials for the killing of Soleimani. Sources told the channel that the Biden administration has not yet officially responded to the Iranian counter-proposal.

And Tungsiri, the second senior leader of the Revolutionary Guards, announces his forces’ adherence to “revenge” against Soleimani. The commander of the ground forces of the Revolutionary Guards, Muhammad Pakpour, said last week: “Even if all American leaders are killed, this will not be enough to avenge Soleimani’s blood. We must follow in Soleimani’s footsteps and avenge his killing by other means.”

Three weeks ago, the Persian-language American Radio Farda quoted sources close to the Vienna talks that the US administration had requested a commitment from Iran to suspend any attempts to avenge the killing of Soleimani, noting that the US intelligence services “have detailed information about Iranian plans against some officials.” The former Americans whom Tehran accuses of being involved in the killing of Soleimani, and in such circumstances, the Iranian government’s request from Washington cannot be accepted.” Later this month, Reuters quoted an Iranian diplomatic source as saying that Tehran had rejected a US proposal to overcome this sticking point by keeping the Quds Force within the imposed sanctions while removing the Guard, as an entity, from the list.

And before Soleimani’s case came to the fore, Axios reported last month, quoting American and Israeli sources, that Iran had rejected a US proposal to reduce regional escalation in exchange for removing the Revolutionary Guards from the list of terrorism.

Last Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that “the Soleimani case is a major principle in our foreign policy to hold those responsible to account.”

And an Israeli diplomat told a senior journalist, the day before yesterday, that “Biden administration officials have informed their European counterparts that Washington does not plan to remove the (Revolutionary Guard) from the terrorism list,” according to the “Times of Israel” website.

Despite the message I sent to the Europeans; The idea is still on the table with the Biden administration, while keeping the Quds Force on the terrorist list, according to the Israeli official.

In turn, the United States said that if Iran wants to ease sanctions beyond what is stipulated in the 2015 Iranian nuclear agreement, in a clear reference to the “Revolutionary Guard”, it must address American concerns that go beyond what was addressed in the agreement.

“We will not negotiate publicly, but if Iran wants to lift sanctions to a greater extent than what is contained in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the nuclear deal), it must address our concerns beyond (which are addressed in) the agreement,” Reuters quoted a US State Department spokesman as saying. “On the contrary, if they do not want to take advantage of these talks to solve other bilateral issues outside the JCPOA,” he added

We are confident that we can quickly come to an understanding on the plan and begin to re-implement the agreement… Iran should make a decision.”

“Under any return to the nuclear deal, the United States will retain and vigorously use our powerful tools to counter Iran’s destabilizing activities and support for terrorism and terrorist proxies, particularly to counter Iran’s Revolutionary Guards,” the State Department spokesperson said.

The Quds Force is the foreign and paramilitary espionage arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which controls allied militias abroad. The administration of former US President Donald Trump included the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations in 2019, the first time that Washington officially designates a force parallel to the army of another country as a terrorist group.