TEHRAN, Jun 21 (NNN-IRNA) – Iranian Caretaker Foreign Minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, yesterday condemned the Canadian government’s “provocative and irresponsible” decision, to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “terrorist entity.”
He made the remarks in a post on social media platform X, while reacting to an announcement on Wednesday by Canadian Public Safety Minister, Dominic LeBlanc, that his country had decided to list the IRGC as a “terrorist group.”
Bagheri Kani said, Canada’s act of blacklisting the IRGC, which is an integral part of Iran’s official armed forces, was a “provocation” of the principles and rules of international law and threatened regional peace and stability.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, yesterday strongly condemned the Canadian government’s move, as “unconventional and unwise,” saying, the decision was a “hostile action in contradiction with international law, regarding the sovereign equality and non-interference in the internal affairs of states.”
Kanaani called it “an instance of aggression against Iran’s national sovereignty.”
In his remarks on Wednesday, LeBlanc vowed that Canada would use all the tools at its disposal “to combat the terrorist activity” of the IRGC, while accusing the Iranian armed forces of disregarding human rights both inside and outside of Iran.
Thousands of senior Iranian officials, including top IRGC members, are now banned from entering Canada, and those already inside the country may be investigated and removed, LeBlanc said.
As a consequence of the decision, Canadian financial institutions are required to immediately freeze the property of a blacklisted entity, and it is a criminal offense for anyone in Canada and Canadians abroad, to knowingly deal with property owned or controlled by a terrorist group, according to a press release issued by Public Safety Canada.– NNN-IRNA
