Canada Labels Iran’s IRGC as Terrorist Organisation

Summary:
Canada has designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, a decision that will prevent thousands of Iranian officials from entering Canada and initiate investigations into senior IRGC members. The IRGC, a powerful branch of Iran’s armed forces established after the 1979 Iranian revolution, operates independently from Iran’s regular military and is closely linked to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc emphasized that Canada will use all available tools to combat IRGC’s terrorist activities, while Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly warned Canadians in Iran to return home due to potential arbitrary detention risks. The decision follows years of pressure from opposition parties and comes after the IRGC’s 2020 downing of a Ukrainian airliner, which killed 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre suggested the timing of the announcement is politically motivated, coinciding with an upcoming byelection in a Toronto district with a significant Jewish population. The move aligns Canada with the US, which banned the IRGC in 2019, and adds pressure on the UK government to do the same amid ongoing conflicts involving Israel and Iran.