However, a new proposal circulated recently in the US Congress reveals that the administration of President Joe Biden is considering cancelling the sanctions imposed on the IRGC and keeping the Quds Force on the list of terrorism instead.


The Quds Force is on the terror list

The proposal removes the IRGC from the terror list to keep its Quds Force, a smaller unit primarily fighting abroad, on the US terrorism list to compensate for the move.


The circulated news estimates that the sanctions would be dropped from about 80,000 to 180,000 guards. At the same time, they would include only the Quds Force, consisting of 20,000 Iranian fighters, according to what was reported by the "Washington Free Beacon" website.


Break the deal


Iranian officials have confirmed the proposal recently, angering Republican foreign policy leaders, who say the IRGC should remain on the US terror list.


Republican leaders viewed the proposal as a deal-breaker if submitted to Congress for approval.


In turn, one prominent Republican familiar with the proposal said that "removing the IRGC and then putting only the Quds Force on the list would effectively mean removing another 80,000 or so fighters from the terrorism list, and they can now enter the United States."


According to a copy of that information viewed by Free Beacon, members were also briefed on how the proposal would allow Revolutionary Guard fighters to enter the United States.


Blinken worried


Some Democrats are speaking out against the move, too. On Tuesday, Senator Joe Manchin wrote to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, saying he was "particularly concerned" about removing the Revolutionary Guards from the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations.


"We should not reward Iran with sanctions relief," he added until it showed its willingness to curb its "nuclear ambitions" and "terrorist financing."


The issue of removing the IRGC from the list of terrorist organizations by the United States had surfaced weeks ago, a difficult obstacle for negotiators, especially since the administration of US President Joe Biden is under extreme pressure from Congress to remove the IRGC from the terror list.


The sanctions are still the main obstacles to reaching a final agreement between Iran and the three European countries (France, Britain and Germany), indirectly with Russia and China, and the United States, which participated in the marathon negotiations in April last year in the Austrian capital.