ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States on Tuesday denied any involvement in the killing of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) colonel earlier this week, as reports circulate stating that the White House has made a final decision not to delist the IRGC from the terrorist list, a key demand from Iran in order to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.
“We’ve seen the reports. The only thing I will say is that we had no involvements in the killing, of course,” US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said during a press briefing in Washington.
Colonel Sayyad Khodai was shot dead Sunday outside his home by assailants on motorcycles, in a killing Iran blamed on "elements linked to the global arrogance", its term for the United States and its allies including Israel.
On Monday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed to pursue the perpetrators and “avenge” the killing of Khodai.
The statement from Price was immediately challenged by AP reporter Matthew Lee over his use of “of course,” adding that the US in the past has proudly claimed responsibility for killing leaders of the IRGC, referring to top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.
The same reporter also questioned why Price denied US responsibility in the incident in the first place, without being accused of being involved.
The spokesperson declined to provide any further comments on the matter.
The US assassinated Soleimani and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) deputy commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad in January 2020, claiming that Soleimani was planning imminent action against US personnel in Iraq.
Iraqi air defense systems shot down a drone targeting a base near Baghdad airport housing Iraqi and US forces on Tuesday. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but Iran-backed militias are typically behind such attacks.
Price’s remarks coincide with the recent emergence of reports stating that US President Joe Biden has reached a final decision to keep the IRGC on its list of foreign terrorist organizations - a move which is bound to complicate the Vienna talks as the organization’s removal from the list has been one of Tehran’s main demands during the negotiations.
On Tuesday, POLITICO published a report citing a “senior Western official” who confirmed that Washington had made a final decision, adding that Biden conveyed the news to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett during a phone call in April but had asked him to keep it quiet for the time being.
After the report was published, Bennet took to Twitter to thank Biden for the decision, adding that the group “belonged” on the terror list.
I welcome the decision by the US Administration to keep Iran’s IRGC on the Foreign Terrorist Organizations list — which is where it belongs.
— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) May 24, 2022
Thank you to @POTUS @JoeBiden for this principled decision and for being a true friend of the State of Israel.
🇮🇱🇺🇸
Israel has been vehemently opposed to the delisting of the IRGC, as well as the revival of the nuclear deal in its current form, asking for harsher regulations on Iran.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was agreed upon between Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States in 2015, offering Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
When former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018 and imposed stiff economic sanctions, Tehran embarked upon the process of rolling back on its nuclear commitments.
Iran and world powers, including the US, have held talks for over a year aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, with Iran insisting that the US must lift its crippling sanctions, including those on the IRGC, and to provide a guarantee that future US administrations will not be able to withdraw from the deal.
