24
April 2019
Past Event
Turning up the Heat: U.S. Designates Iran's Revolutionary Guard a Terrorist Organization

Turning up the Heat: U.S. Designates Iran's Revolutionary Guard a Terrorist Organization

Past Event
Hudson Institute, Washington, D.C. Headquarters
April 24, 2019
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Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani (C) attends Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's (not seen) meeting with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in Tehran, Iran
Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani (C) attends Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's (not seen) meeting with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in Tehran, Iran
24
April 2019
Past Event

1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 400
Washington, DC 20004

Speakers:
Suzanne Kianpour

Foreign Affairs and Political Journalist, BBC

Mike Pregent

Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute

Behnam Ben Taleblu

Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Nader Uskowi

Nonresident Senior Fellow, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council; and author, Temperature Rising: Iran Revolutionary Guards and Wars in the Middle East (Rowman & Littlefield 2018)

Alireza Nader

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, New Iran; and former senior researcher, RAND Corporation

Hudson Institute will host a panel to discuss the implications of the State Department’s recent designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as foreign terrorist organization (FTO). Panelists will include FDD Senior Fellow Behnam Ben Taleblu; Atlantic Council nonresident Senior Fellow Nader Uskowi; the New Iran's Alireza Nader; and Hudson Senior Fellow Michael Pregent. The BBC’s Suzanne Kianpour will moderate the discussion.

On April 15, the U.S. formally designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as an FTO. The designation groups the IRGC with terrorist organizations like ISIS and al Qaeda, and marks the first time a government entity has been added to the list. The U.S. hopes that given the group’s significant political and economic influence, the designation will ratchet up pressure on Iran and blunt the country’s primary instrument of state-sponsored terrorism. Will international allies and partners abide by the U.S. designation? Will Iran fold to this newfound pressure, or will it end up being more resilient than the U.S. perceives?

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