ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iran on Wednesday designated Argentina’s air force and navy as terrorist entities in retaliation for Buenos Aires’ decision to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.

In April, Argentina said its designation of the IRGC was due to its backing for Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which it blames for a 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 and injured hundreds others. It is considered the deadliest bombing in the country’s history.

In 2024, an Argentinian court ruled that the IRGC had directed the attack, with the ruling asserting that Hezbollah "acted under the inspiration, organization, planning, and financing of state and parastatal bodies subordinate to the government of the ayatollahs."

Iran’s foreign ministry said the designation of Argentina’s air force and navy was a “reciprocal action,” calling its IRGC terrorist listing as “a hostile act and contrary to fundamental principles of international law.”

“It is evident that the responsibility for all consequences arising from this matter will lie with the Argentine government,” it added.

The IRGC is one of the most powerful branches of Iran’s armed forces, independent of the army and only accountable to the Supreme Leader. Besides having an army, navy, air force, and intelligence wing, it also exports regional influence and controls a large part of Iran’s economy.

Both the IRGC and Hezbollah are listed as terrorist organizations by the United States and other countries. Tehran usually applies a terrorist listing to elements of those countries in response, calling their move illegal or hostile.

In February, the Iranian parliament listed the armies of European countries as “terrorist groups” after the EU’s decision to apply the same designation to the IRGC for its brutal crackdown on the nationwide protests in January and its continued backing of Russia in its war against Ukraine.