Canada has listed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc called it a “significant tool in fighting global terrorism”.
The move will mean that thousands of senior Iranian government officials, including top IRGC officials, will be barred from entering Canada.
LeBlanc said the action “sends a strong message that Canada will use all of the tools at its disposal to combat the terrorist entity of the IRGC”.
“The Iranian regime has consistently displayed disregard for human rights, both inside and outside of Iran as well as a willingness to destabilise the international rules-based order,” he said.
After this designation, current and former senior Iranian government officials already in Canada may also now be investigated and removed.
The move makes Canada the second country in North America after the US to label the IRGC as a terrorist organisation, which did so in 2019.
