Canada preparing to list Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group — report

Canada is preparing to list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization and could make an announcement as early as this week, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp says.

The CBC, citing multiple sources, says the details of the measure have not been finalized.

Opposition legislators have long demanded the IRGC be listed but the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has so far declined, saying doing so risks unintended consequences.

In October 2022, Ottawa said such a move might unfairly capture Iranians in Canada who fled the country but had been conscripted into the force when still in Iran.

The office of Foreign Minister Melanie Joly is not immediately available for comment on the CBC report.

Canada already lists the IRGC’s overseas arm, the Quds Force, as a terrorist group. Ottawa broke off diplomatic relations with Tehran in 2012.

Once a group is placed on the terror list, police can charge anyone who financially or materially supports the group and banks can freeze assets, the CBC says.

In October 2022, Canada said it would ban the IRGC’s top leadership from entering the country and promised more targeted sanctions. At the time, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland stated that “the IRGC is a terrorist organization.”