The US Administration has designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organisation, a media report said.

"This unprecedented step, led by the Department of State, recognises the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft," US President Trump was quoted as saying by Emirates news agency Wam.

"The IRGC is the Iranian government's primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign.

“This action sends a clear message to Tehran that its support for terrorism has serious consequences," Trump added. "We will continue to increase financial pressure and raise the costs on the Iranian regime for its support of terrorist activity until it abandons its malign and outlaw behaviour."

The terrorist designation, which takes effect April 16, will allow the Trump administration to seek criminal penalties against elements of the military agency and foreign officials deemed to be aiding it.

Designating the IRGC a terrorist organisation will also allow Washington to ban travel to the United States for individuals associated with the IRGC.

The designation imposes sanctions that include freezes on assets the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may have in US jurisdictions and a ban on Americans doing business with it.

For his part, Michael Richard Pompeo, US Secretary of State, said: "In an important step to counter the Iranian regime’s terrorism, the US has designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, incl. Qods Force, as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation."