Even amid suspicions that Iranian terrorists are planning assassinations in America, the Biden administration is seeking ways to legitimize the Islamic Republic’s top terrorism command.  

The FBI so far is mum about who financed and otherwise backed two men arrested over the weekend on suspicion they pretended to be federal agents and showered Secret Service officials with gifts. One of the men, Arian Taherzadeh, has an Iranian name, and both he and the other suspect, Haider Ali, had multiple entry visas to Iran. 

An indictment against the two suspects details attempts to get close to federal agents and, specifically, officials of the Secret Service — one of which was assigned to the first lady, Jill Biden. 

In a related development, Iranian agents reportedly planned to kidnap and assassinate three senior officials in the Trump administration.

Tehran has long vowed to avenge the 2020 killing of the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani. According to multiple reports, intelligence activity led to security being beefed up around Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and America’s former Iran point man, Brian Hook, who are guarded by State Department security details. A former national  security adviser, John Bolton, who is guarded by the Secret Service, has also reportedly been targeted.

All of which points to suspicion that the IRGC — and specifically its Quds Force, which is charged with exporting the Islamic revolution beyond Iran’s borders — is actively planning acts of terrorism inside America. 

At the same time, the Biden administration is seeking a compromise on one of Tehran’s most politically thorny demands in the ongoing nuclear talks. Iranian negotiators insist that their most prolific terrorist arm, the IRGC, must be removed from the State Department’s list of terror organizations. Otherwise, they say, there will be no return to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which President Biden craves. 

The Iranian demand has led to bipartisan political resistance on the Hill. Also, 70 former officials, politicians, and Iran watchers this week signed a letter calling on Mr. Biden not to delist the IRGC. While most of the signatories oppose renewing the JCPOA to begin with, they admit there is little they can do to stop it. 

Yet, the idea of delisting the IRGC “is so blatant in its face that you have to do something about it,” says one of the 70 signatories, the vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council, Ilan Berman. While some in Washington have recently argued that designation on the foreign terrorist list is merely “symbolic,” Mr. Berman says, “That’s simply not true.”

As the letter signers write, if “designations were symbolic, we would have no need for a special State Department list of more than 70 groups — nor would the Islamic Republic of Iran insist on the IRGC’s removal from that list.” 

Facing resistance, the White House seeks ways to satisfy Iran’s demands while at the same time selling the deal in Washington. One idea that has surfaced recently: remove the IRGC from the terror list, but keep listing one of its five branches, the Quds Force, as a terror organization. 

A well-plugged Washington Post columnist, David Ignatius, wrote over the weekend that Mr. Biden personally opposes delisting the IRGC. “A senior administration official told me that President Biden doesn’t intend to concede on the terrorist designation, even though this may be a dealbreaker,” Mr. Ignatius wrote. 

Then again, he cites a recent Senate hearing in which the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, said, “In my personal opinion, I believe the IRGC Quds Force to be a terrorist organization, and I do not support them being de-listed.”

Making a distinction between the IRGC and its foreign terror arm “sets the Quds Force as a bogey man. It is not some branch that can be lopped off from the whole,” Mr. Berman says. 

The powerful IRGC is one of the Iranian regime’s top organs. The Guards control large sections of the economy, conduct businesses around the world, and are directly involved in nuclear development, the ballistic program, and other parts of Iran’s growing military machine. The Quds Force is charged with exporting terror, but the organization directs and finances its operations.

Since money is fungible, removing the IRGC from the terror list would not harm the terror capabilities of the Quds Force, even if it remains on the list. 

Biden officials insist on keeping the administration’s Iran dealings under wraps. “We’re not quite there yet,” the White House press secretary, Jennifer Psaki, told Fox News on Sunday. “There’s more than one” sticking point, she added, “and I’m not going to prejudge those or negotiate from here at this point.”

The latest demand from Iran, reportedly, is a congressional assurance that all future presidents will stick with the deal if signed. Unless Mr. Biden can turn the deal into a Senate-approved treaty, no president can make such an assurance. Tehran knows that, but seems to mount additional stumbling blocks each time American negotiators offer fresh concessions.