Iranian parliament labels entire US military as terrorist

Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a bill that labels all US military forces as terrorists, state TV reported, a day after Washington ratcheted up pressure on Tehran by announcing that no country would any longer be exempt from US sanctions if it continues to buy Iranian oil.

The bill is a step further from the one last week, when lawmakers approved labeling just US troops in the Middle East as terrorists, in response to the US terrorism designation for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards earlier this month.

The Trump administration re-imposed sanctions on Iran, including on its energy sector, last November, after pulling America out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

The US designation against Iran’s Revolutionary Guards is the first-ever for an entire division of another government, and it added another layer of sanctions to the powerful paramilitary force, making it a crime under US jurisdiction to provide them with material support.

On Monday, President Donald Trump decided to do away with waivers as part of the administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran that aims to eliminate all of its revenue from oil exports that the US says funds destabilizing activity throughout the Mideast and beyond.