Issa Kameli, the director general for the Americas department at the Foreign Ministry, said the Paraguayan move is “illegal, unjustifiable and in violation of international legal rules and norms.”
Paraguay designated on Thursday the Iranian elite force as a “terrorist” organization and expanded its previous blacklisting of Palestine’s Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to encompass the military and political arms of the two resistance movements.
Expressing disappointment with Paraguay’s alignment with the occupying and genocidal Israeli regime’s anti-Iran policies, Kameli emphasized Paraguay’s global accountability for its illegal action against Iran’s IRGC.
“The political action undertaken by the Paraguayan government sets a dangerous precedent, orchestrated at the behest of the Zionist regime to distract public attention from the genocide in Gaza, thereby implicating Paraguayan policymakers as complicit in the crimes currently under prosecution by the International Criminal Court,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry official added.
Kameli pointed to the lofty, empowering, and honorable position of the IRGC as part of the country’s official armed forces, and said the force has played an unparalleled role in defending the integrity of Iran and confronting terrorism, including Daesh.
He further emphasized the Iranian government’s unwavering commitment to undertaking all essential measures to safeguard the standing and reputation of the nation’s armed forces in the face of any “belligerent labeling.”
Announcing the designations in a statement, Paraguayan President Santiago Peña claimed that the move was a reaffirmation of Asuncion’s commitment to the “global fight against terrorism” while strengthening its strategic allegiances with the United States and Israel.
Pena accused the IRGC of “systemic involvement in human rights violations and participation in terrorist activities,” without providing any evidence.
The Latin American country had blacklisted Hamas and Hezbollah in 2019 but extended the designation on Thursday to their military and political arms.
The US State Department and Israeli regime praised the Paraguayan government’s anti-Iran action, with Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar urging more countries should follow suit.
Paraguay’s relationship with the illegal regime has improved under Peña, who reopened his country’s embassy in the occupied al-Quds in 2024 after it was closed by his predecessor.
The reopening made Paraguay the sixth nation with an embassy in the occupied al-Quds, joining the United States, Honduras, Guatemala, Kosovo and Papua New Guinea.
Last year, the Islamic Republic demonstrated its military might with Operation True Promise I and II, which included hundreds of retaliatory strikes by the Iranian Armed Forces against the occupied territories.
The operations manifested Iran’s finesse to pummel Israeli military and intelligence targets with surgical accuracy, filling with awe the regime’s military experts and international sympathizers.
Iranian officials have underscored that the country only deployed a fraction of its firepower during the dual reprisal.
