Imposing Sanctions on IRGC to Result in Dire Consequence for US: Cmdr.

IRGC Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Ja’afari said in the northeastern city of Mashhad on Wednesday that the US bases in the region would be insecure if Washington blacklisted the IRGC or imposed sanctions on Iran over its defense program.  
 
“If the US seeks to pursue sanctions against [Iran’s] defense [program] and the IRGC, before that it should move its regional bases 1,000 kilometers away from Iran and it should know that it has to pay a high price for its miscalculation,” warned the top commander. 
 
Underlining the significance of missile capabilities in promoting the country’s deterrence power, Ja’afari said that the IRGC was expanding the production of its missiles that could successfully hit targets with pinpoint precision, just as they did during a recent attack on the positions of ISIS terrorists in Syria.
 
 “Iran’s missile power in air, sea and on land is rapidly increasing, and this is an inalienable principle for us,” the IRGC commander added, stressing that Iran’s missile might is not up for negotiations.
 
Ja’afari said that the enemy regards a new war as harmful to its interests as all military and warmongering acts of the enemies in the region have backfired so far. 
 
On Tuesday, the United States slapped new economic sanctions against Iran over its ballistic missile program.
 
His comments come a day after the US Department of the Treasury imposed a new set of sanctions against 16 entities and individuals it accused of providing material support to the Iranian military and its missile program.
 
Earlier, the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, also warned the US authorities of the “big risks” they face by imposing sanctions against the IRGC.
 
He also said that the Iranian missile program “is defensive and never would be subject to bargaining and negotiation at any level.” The major general also called on the US to be more “cautious” and “think deeper” about its decisions relating to the anti-Iranian sanctions.
 
US officials have also said that President Donald Trump's administration was considering a proposal that could lead to categorizing the IRGC as a terrorist organization.