Trump administration officials expect to announce on Monday that the State Department will designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). The Wall Street Journal first reported this expected move — the latest in Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign against the Iranian regime.
Why this matters, per the Journal: "The decision ... would mark the first time that an element of a foreign state has been officially designated a terrorist entity." (The IRGC is an important element within Iran's armed forces.)
It's crunch week. Britain is due to leave the EU without any kind of deal on Friday — an outcome only the most extreme Brexiteers want.
Between the lines: Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar summed up the sentiment on Friday. “None of us want a no-deal next week," he said. "I know the UK doesn’t want it, and Europe doesn’t want it either.” At the same time, as the second deadline approaches (March 29 has already been and gone), Varadkar was adamant that "we don’t want to have a rolling cliff-edge" with extension after extension.
If re-elected next week, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is considering annexing or extending Israeli law to parts of the West Bank which have been occupied by Israel in 1967, Netanyahu's aides told me.
Why it matters: The international community sees the West Bank as Palestinian occupied territory and the Israeli settlements there as illegal. The Trump administration has changed U.S. policy on the West Bank, and while not recognizing it as part of Israel, it does not designate it as occupied.
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