Terror label 'paves way for air strikes'

The White House's plans to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organisation are intended to give the Bush administration cover if it launches military strikes on the Islamic republic, according to a prominent former CIA officer.

Robert Baer, who was a high-ranking operative in the Middle East, said last week that senior government officials had told him the administration was preparing for air strikes on the guards' bases and probably also on Iran's nuclear facilities within the next six months.

The US is expected to list the guards as a terror group in the coming weeks. Washington accuses them of backing attacks on American and British forces in Iraq, as well as supporting the Hezbollah faction in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories. London Telegraph