Trudeau stands by decision to label Iran’s IRGC a terrorist organization

June 20, 2024 TruthUSA

A day after the Canadian government designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist entity, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended how long the decision took, saying it needed to be done the “right way.”

“We know that this is going to have real impacts for members of the Iranian community and Canada and potentially their families back home, which is why we needed to take our time to get this done the right way,” Mr. Trudeau told reporters on June 20.

The prime minister added that the Iranian regime is focused on “destabilizing and creating chaos and death in democracies and countries around the world,” which was why the federal government had taken the “serious step” to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization.

Canada had already long-listed the IRGC’s Quds Force, which specializes in unconventional warfare, as a terrorist entity.

With the entirety of IRGC now listed as a terrorist group under the Criminal Code, Canadian financial institutions are required to immediately freeze the property of the group, and it is a criminal offence for Canadians abroad to knowingly deal with property owned or controlled by the IRGC.

When announcing the decision on June 19, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said the Iranian government had consistently displayed a “disregard for human rights, both inside and outside of Iran.” When asked about the timing of the decision, Mr. LeBlanc said it had not been made because of “comments on Twitter or question period,” but because of “foreign policy considerations.”

Rising Tensions

Back in January 2020, the IRGC shot down Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 and killed all passengers on board, including 85 Canadian citizens and permanent residents. Members of the victims’ families have been among those urging Ottawa to add IRGC to the list of terrorist entities.

The Conservative Party has also long called for Canada to add the group to the list, particularly since the Oct. 7 attack against Israel by Hamas terrorists that killed over 1,200. While the Liberals supported a Tory motion in the House of Commons to designate the group as a terrorist entity back in 2018, they had not followed up on the issue.

In 2022, then-Justice Minister David Lametti raised concerns that declaring IRGC a terrorist entity would be too much of a “blunt instrument” since military service is mandatory in the country. He said labelling the IRGC a terrorist organization may “punish innocent people or those against the regime.”

In May 2024, MPs voted unanimously in the House of Commons in favour of another non-binding motion calling on the government to list the IRGC as a terrorist entity.

During a visit to Ottawa on June 19, NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the increasingly close ties between “authoritarian powers” like Iran, Russia, China, and North Korea meant it was “even more important for NATO allies to stand together and protect freedom and democracy.”

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