BLOWING UP

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards: Missile Program to Expand, Accelerate Despite U.S. Pressure

“In reaction to Trump’s hostile approach towards this revolutionary organization.”

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards in Iran—the elite, influential branch of the armed forces—say they will expand Tehran’s ballistic-missile program despite pressure to suspend it by the European Union and the U.S., according to the Tasnim news agency in Iran. President Trump imposed new unilateral sanctions against the Guards last week in an effort to weaken the country’s missile program, and has disavowed President Obama’s landmark 2015 nuclear deal with the nation. “Iran’s ballistic missile program will expand and it will continue with more speed in reaction to Trump’s hostile approach towards this revolutionary organization,” the Revolutionary Guards wrote in a statement, saying the “cruel sanctions against the Guards” showed the “failure of America and the Zionist regime’s wicked policies in the region.”