Hundreds of years ago, when medical science was undevelopeed, people lost their lives for simple and easily preventable diseases. There was a time, for example, when bubonic plague was man’s number one enemy. Everybody, even those with no knowledge of medicine, longed to find a cure for the illness. Yet diseases were so terrifying that should anyone try to help halt the progress of the disease, he could be treated as a traitor to humanity. No logic is needed to attest that in our present time, terrorism, if not number one enemy, is man’s one highest anxiety.

Hassan Abbasi is an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps strategist and theoretician

The regime of ayatollahs in Iran is supporting militias operating in different parts of Iraq. Iran’s “Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps” – IRGC- is heavily involved, in concurrence with Lebanese Hezbollah, in Syria in support of the dictator Bashar Al Assad. It also funds and arms the Houthi rebels in Yemen. The fact that U.S. and other lawmakers are pressing for IRGC to be named as a terrorist organization reveals the long history of Iran’s participation and sponsorship of terrorist activities abroad – especially through Quds Force, IRGC’s foreign operations wing. A recently emerged video clip shows a top IRGC commander threatening to unleash terror in the United States. Hassan Abbasi (pictured above) who is known as an IRGC strategist and theorist, threatening to lead “global guerrilla organizations” against the United States’ military and vulnerable targets:

“If only 11 people carried out 9/11, do you realize that the possibility exists for us to do what we want? We don’t need nuclear weapons.”

Abbasi was bragging in his address to the new government in the United States. Iran is the world’s only state that for almost four decades has been under the rule of fundamentalist mullahs. The regime of ayatollahs has used a misleading interpretation of Islam to suppress the people inside and to pursue terrorism in the neighboring countries, for them the use of Islam is nothing but a cynical means of safeguarding their dictatorship.

Abbasi, Iran’s IRGC theorist, continues bullying the West in his country’s terrorist activities, “It won’t even be an Iranian-only guerrilla movement, but from all Islamic countries,” he said. “You can deport all the Muslims, but we are involving and working on Mexicans as well, and Argentinians too. We will organize anyone who has problems with the United States”

Iran’s neighboring country, Iraq, became the world’s number one terrorism-stricken state after Iran’s covert invasion following the Gulf War. Thousands of innocent Iraqis lost their lives or received irrevocable injuries by bomb explosions or through other operations waged by Iran’s proxy terrorist groups. The National Council of Resistance of Iran, NCRI, the coalition of resistance forces determined to disseat the religious dictatorship, ridiculed Foreign Minister Zarif when he claimed his government was fighting against terrorists in Iraq. A recent statement by the coalition says,   “The IRGC is the most powerful military-security organization that represses internal clashes and exports warmongering plans in the region”.  NCRI adds, “This organization is almost involved in all key industries and businesses in Iran.”

Countries in the Middle East region are pursuing talks to form an alliances to protect their citizens against Iran’s destabilizing threats. An article, published by The Wall Street Journal on Feb. 15, reported talks between Trump administration and representatives of Arabic countries.  These talks aimed to form a military alliance to encounter the common enemy, Iran. “Un-trustable” is a common word, used around the globe, to describe the ayatollahs in Tehran. While campaigning for the presidency Trump told reporters, “Another mess I inherited. We have imposed new sanctions on the nation of Iran, which has totally taken advantage of our previous administration. And they are the world's top sponsor of terrorism. And we're not going to stop until that problem is properly solved, and it's not now. It's one of the worst agreements I've ever seen drawn by anybody.”

Deeds and words of all Iranian officials, in the present and the past, have put on show the nature of this regime. Putting IRGC in the foreign terrorist organization list (FTO), as many Western lawmakers are suggesting، would be a step forward against fundamentalism and terrorism . . .  and would save lives.

Police in Bahrain arrested 25 members of an Iran backed terrorist group.

Hassan Mahmoudi is a human rights advocate and social media journalist seeking democracy for Iran and peace for the region.