Canada Set to Designate IRGC as Terrorist Organization

Canada is considering designating Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, with an announcement possible this week. This move has been delayed despite pressure from opposition legislators. Concerns include potential unintended consequences for Iranian expatriates in Canada previously conscripted into the IRGC.

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 said on Wednesday. The CBC, citing multiple sources, said the details of the measure had not been finalised.

Opposition legislators have long demanded the IRGC be listed but the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has so far declined, saying to do so risked unintended consequences. In October 2022, Ottawa said such a move might unfairly capture Iranians in Canada who had fled the country but were conscripted into the force when still in Iran.

The office of Foreign Minister Melanie Joly was 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 said. 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".

The IRGC, a powerful faction that controls a business empire as well as elite armed and intelligence forces in Iran, has been accused by Western nations of carrying out a global terrorist campaign. Iran rejects that.

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