The leaders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will be banned from entering Canada as part of sanctions over the treatment of women in the country.
Ottawa is also still pressuring Iran over the Ukrainian International Airlines plane shot down in January 2020. As many as 138 of the 176 people killed on the flight had ties to Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the move would affect the top 50 percent of the IRGC — roughly 10,000 members — and will be permanent.
“We are using the most powerful tools at our disposal to crack down on this brutal regime,” Trudeau told a press conference Friday.
Iran has faced increasing international condemnation and nationwide protests following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police.
Canada plans to expand targeted sanctions measures and establish a sanctions bureau, Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland announced at the news conference.
“The IRGC is a terrorist organization. Today, by listing the IRGC under IRPA and indeed by listing the broader leadership of the Iranian regime, we are formally recognizing that fact and acting accordingly,” Freeland said.
The group will be classified under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, a measure used by Canada against regimes accused of the most serious war crimes.
