BUENOS AIRES, March 31 (Reuters) – Argentina has designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, its presidential office said in a statement on Tuesday, following a push from the Trump administration for allies to do so.
Argentina attributed the measure to the IRGC’s backing for Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which it blames for the deadliest bombing in the South American nation’s history, a 1994 attack on the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 and injured hundreds.
The presidential office said the measure allows for the implementation of financial sanctions and other operational restrictions.
The IRGC is an elite military force whose purpose is to protect Shi’ite Muslim clerical rule in Iran. It controls large parts of Iran’s economy.
Both the IRGC and Hezbollah are already designated as terrorist groups by the United States and some other countries.
Days earlier, Argentina’s government also designated Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a terrorist organization, further aligning the government of President Javier Milei with Washington.
(Reporting by Walter Bianchi and Sarah Morland; Editing by Sonali Paul and Kevin Buckland)
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