The Terror Label

Axis Of Evil: The U.S. has decided to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the mullahs are starting to feel a little sand grinding in their sandals.

Originally formed to protect the leaders of the Islamofascist revolution in 1979, the IRGC isn't the regular Iranian military. It's an extra-military organization of about 125,000 with great political and economic influence that carries out orders of the Islamofascist clerics.

The largest branch of Iran's armed forces, the Guard has always had power. But during the presidency of Ahmadinejad, himself a former Guard officer, its authority has grown.

"The Revolutionary Guards are quickly emerging as the most prominent actor in Iran," Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told the Washington Post in April. "They're playing an increasingly active role on the domestic political scene, have enormous economic assets and interests, are a key player in the nuclear program and are essentially running Iranian activities in Iraq and Lebanon."

The IRGC also controls Iranian missiles, missile production, and chemical and biological weapons. It's also active in piracy: It was the Guard's naval branch that took 15 British sailors and marines hostage earlier this year.

Within the Guard is the al-Quds Force, a terrorist support group that has likely killed American troops in Iraq as well as Iraqi civilians. Anthony Cordesman, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Post that al-Quds is in command of Iran's operations in Iraq and has expanded its presence there to 15,000 from 5,000.

Al-Quds, whose commander reports directly to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has a history of operating outside Iran's borders. It's been linked to terrorism in Lebanon (it might have been responsible for the 1983 bombing of the Marines barracks in Beirut that killed 241 American servicemen) and in Israel. The group has ties to Hezbollah and Hamas, which are sponsored by the Islamist regime in Tehran, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Quds, by the way, is Arabic for Jerusalem -- an indication that the group's ultimate goal is to take over that city.

By branding the IRGC a terrorist organization, the U.S. can ramp up pressure on Tehran. Once on the list, any of the Guard's financial assets or business links in the U.S. can be frozen.

IRGC assets in nations allied with the U.S. also are vulnerable, as are funds in countries with which we have leverage. Ditto for any assets or businesses owned by groups tied to the Guard.

Battlefield rules will also change. Guard members will no longer be treated as soldiers but as terrorists who, once captured, won't rate the same treatment as legitimate soldiers under the Geneva Conventions. They'll be the lucky ones. Without the protection of a state, IRGC members legitimately can be destroyed in anti-terrorism efforts.

Temperatures in Tehran reached 97 degrees Wednesday, but the summer is probably feeling much warmer to Ahmadinejad and the mullahs.