US sanctions on IRGC pretext for economic pressures on Iran: Comdr

'Targeting the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and Iran's missile capabilities are just pretexts,' IRGC Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said at a national conference held in Tehran.

'Their main aim is to persuade us into giving up the path of the Islamic Revolution,' General Jafari said.

He said that Iran has repeatedly had to deal with the US disloyalties.

'Why do they expect us to believe them?' he asked.

In its recent decision, US has put Iran's IRGC on its list of terrorist groups. The move has been described by the Iranian officials as ridiculous.

Donald Trump in August, gave the go-ahead for imposition of wide-ranging sanctions against Iran, Russia and North Korea by signing a law known as CAATSA.

CAATSA, by enhancing US sanctions against the three countries, unprecedented over the past five years, targets Iran's ballistic missile program, while it prepare the legal basis for sanctioning the IRGC on allegations of its support for terrorism.

By placing new sanctions on Iran, Washington is acting in defiance of the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

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