Canada has listed Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, a move that will bar thousands of Iranian officials from entering the country and begin investigations against senior officials.
The IRGC is a branch of Iran’s armed forces, established after the 1979 Iranian revolution that led to the formation of an Islamic Republic headed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shi’ite cleric.
The move comes after years of pressure on the Canadian government from the opposition to list IRGC as a terrorist entity.
Announcing the decision, public safety minister Dominic LeBlanc said, “Canada will use all of the tools at its disposal to combat the terrorist entity of the IRGC”.
