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Iran designates US forces 'terrorists' for killing general

Iran's parliament on Tuesday unanimously voted for a motion to designate the U.S. Army and the Pentagon as terrorist organizations in response to the assassination of Iranian General Qasim Soleimani in Iraq on Friday, the Iranian News Agency reported.

Published January 07,2020
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Iran's parliament passed a bill Tuesday designating all U.S. forces "terrorists" over the killing of a top Iranian military commander in a U.S. strike last week.

Iran's parliament, meanwhile, passed an urgent bill declaring the U.S. military's command at the Pentagon in Washington and those acting on its behalf "terrorists," subject to Iranian sanctions. The measure appears to mirror a decision by President Donald Trump in April to declare the Revolutionary Guard a "terrorist organization."

Under the newly adopted bill, all U.S. forces and employees of the Pentagon and affiliated organizations, agents and commanders and those who ordered the "martyrdom" of Qassem Soleimani were designated as "terrorists."

"Any aid to these forces, including military, intelligence, financial, technical, service or logistical, will be considered as cooperation in a terrorist act," parliament said.

The U.S. Defense Department used the guard's designation as a terror organization in the U.S. to support the strike that killed Soleimani. The decision by Iran's parliament, done by a special procedure to speed the bill to law, comes as officials across the country threaten to retaliate for Soleimani's killing.

Qassem Soleimani, the popular head of the Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations arm, was killed in a U.S. drone strike outside Baghdad airport Friday, ratcheting up tensions between the arch-foes.