Canada declares Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group

The Canadian government included Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on its list of terrorist groups, while asking its citizens to leave the Islamic republic. Ottawa believes that Iran has “shown contempt for human rights” and a “desire to destabilize the international order.”

“Our government has decided to classify the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group under the penal code,” Security Minister Dominic LeBlanc declared at a press conference.

Blacklisted in the US since 2019

The Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, have been blacklisted by the United States since 2019. With this classification, Canada can now freeze assets and prosecute members of the organization, in addition to prohibiting them from any financial transactions.

The Canadian list includes nearly 80 groups, including Hamas, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, the Taliban, the Islamic State group, Boko Haram and the North American ultranationalist organization Proud Boys. The Quds Force, the Guardians’ external operations arm, was already on this list.

Years of tension

The measure occurs in a context of great tension for several years between Canada and Iran. Like other countries, Canada sued Iran before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to hold Tehran legally responsible for shooting down a Ukrainian Boeing in 2020.

Since the protest sparked in Iran by the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman detained for violating strict clothing regulations for women, Ottawa has adopted several rounds of sanctions against Iranian organizations and officials accused of complicity with the regime.

Who is Iran’s Revolutionary Guard?

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards is a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, founded after the Iranian Revolution on April 22, 1979 by order of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. While the Iranian Army defends Iranian borders and maintains internal order, according to the Iranian constitution. The Revolutionary Guard (Pasdaran) is intended to protect the political system of the country’s Islamic republic.

The Revolutionary Guards claim that their role in protecting the Islamic system is to prevent foreign interference as well as coups by the military or movements. The Revolutionary Guard has approximately 125,000 military personnel and includes ground, aerospace and naval forces.

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