The Biden administration is all set to remove five extremist groups from the foreign terrorist blacklist of the United States.
This comes at a time when the threat to American land is real from outsider groups, as per the previous intelligence reports.
Biden to Remove Five Groups From the Terrorist List
The decision to remove these groups from the terrorist blacklist was announced by the US State Department; it notified Congress of the measure on Friday.
Blinken also tried to justify his ambitions in front of the lawmakers. He stated the list has been under administrative review; the government is required to do it by law every five years.
The list is usually reviewed on multiple fronts.
Included in them are the activeness of the group in the last five years, its involvement in any terrorist attack at the same time, and the threat these organizations pose to American national interests.
Iran. Is Biden about to take Iran's Revolutionary Guard off of the US terrorist group list? Joey Soft Serve just took 5 other terror groups off the terror list today. What's the point, other than to pave the way for taking Islamic Revolutionary Guard's off of the terror list? pic.twitter.com/ZbtapVM9YB
— By George Ellison (@BraesSeverie) May 16, 2022
According to NPR, the groups are now inactive. However, the decision is politically sensitive for the Biden administration, which is already in the doldrums for its poor performance.
After the delisting, the administration is likely to face the backlash from the families of victims who lost their loved ones in the extremist operations by these entities.
The list of the group which will have the Biden’s mercy includes the following:
A radical Orthodox Jewish group Kahane Kach, two Islamic groups (including Gama’a al-Islamiya and the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem), Basque Fatherland and Liberty, and a Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo.
This removal came at the time when the Biden administration faced massive preemptive scrutinizing for the possible measure of removing Iran’s revolutionary Guard Corps from the terrorist list.
Rehearsal to Lift Terrorist Sanctions on Iran Military Unit
Speaking to Fox News, a Republican congressional aide stated Biden tried to delay the media briefings regarding this matter for months.
He went silent before taking this risky decision. This way, he hoped that no one would be able to note his decision.
The aide further stated this is the “dress rehearsal” of the Biden administration to remove Iran Revolutionary Guard troops from the terrorist sanctions list.
Negotiating the Iran nuclear deal has been the top foreign policy measure of the Biden administration. However, negotiations have been stalemated by Iran’s demand that its top military unit is excluded from the terrorist list of the US.
While the military leadership of the US opposed the potential measure, the terrorist sanctions lifted by the administration suggest a dangerous pattern that can impact the status of Iran’s force as well.
My colleagues & I are urging Biden not to remove the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an Iranian terrorist group responsible for hundreds of American deaths. The removal would betray our allies in the region, including Israel. pic.twitter.com/qvR7OVhkzX
— Senator Bill Hagerty (@SenatorHagerty) April 13, 2022
Reportedly, the IRGC is directly responsible for the killing of 600 American military members.
In April, 46 retired generals wrote a letter to the Biden administration, asking it not to change the status of the troubled Iranian unit.
