Twenty alleged senior members of the Iranian regime have now been discovered dwelling in Canada, immigration officers confirmed amid an election debate on how greatest to take care of the Islamic republic.
The newest is an Iranian citizen scheduled to go earlier than the Immigration and Refugee Board in June after the Canada Border Companies Company accused him of getting served as a high official in Tehran.
He’s the newest Iranian citizen flagged for deportation for the reason that Canadian authorities launched a crackdown in 2022 towards alleged high-level regime members residing within the nation.
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These recognized by immigration enforcement authorities are being despatched to the refugee board, which has been holding hearings to resolve whether or not they need to be deported.
However the instances have been held largely in secrecy and have moved slowly, with just one profitable removing up to now, though just a few of the Iranian officers have left voluntarily.
“To know that there are people affiliated with the highest echelons of Iran’s regime walking around our streets certainly poses a danger to this country,” mentioned Kaveh Shahrooz, a Toronto lawyer and human rights activist.
“It also poses a danger to the diaspora, many of whom have escaped Iran to live here in safety. And to see the people affiliated with the regime that they escaped from are able to come here and live freely, they certainly feel intimidated by this.”
The place do the events stand on Iran?
Conservative Chief Pierre Poilievre, left to proper, Liberal Chief Mark Carney, New Democratic Get together Chief Jagmeet Singh and Bloc Québécois Chief Yves-Francois Blanchet at English-language leaders’ debate in Montreal, April 17, 2025. SKP
Greater than a decade after Canada severed diplomatic ties with the regime, Iran seems prone to stay a key nationwide safety and overseas coverage problem for the subsequent authorities.
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Lengthy a supply of instability within the Center East, Iran trains, arms and funds Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraqi Shiite militias and Yemen’s Houthis, and sells assault drones to Russia for the battle on Ukraine.
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In Canada, operatives have helped Iran launder cash and evade sanctions, and the overseas interference inquiry revealed how the theocracy targets the diaspora in an try to stifle dissent.
Final October, the RCMP warned former Liberal MP and justice minister Irwin Cotler, an outspoken critic of Tehran, that he was the goal of an Iran-linked assassination plot.
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Iran arose through the federal leaders’ debates, with the Conservatives highlighting its duty for the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas assault on Israel, and Liberals agreeing it was a “fundamental risk.”
See the complete get together responses right here.
The Conservatives responded by promising to “stand with the long-suffering people of Iran” and criticizing the Liberals for being sluggish to checklist the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group.
In a press release, the get together mentioned a Pierre Poilievre authorities would implement sanctions towards Tehran and enhance Canadian oil exports to companions and allies to be able to scale back worldwide reliance on Iranian oil.
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“Conservatives will focus on preventing members of the regime from entering Canada and strengthen efforts to counter money laundering by the regime through Canada’s financial system,” it mentioned.
The Liberals mentioned the earlier authorities had outlawed the Houthis, Revolutionary Guard and Samadoun, and would work with nationwide safety companies to focus on different terror teams and their supporters.
“The Iranian regime poses a threat to international peace and security, both through its armed forces and through support of its allies and proxies. A new Liberal government led by Mark Carney will work with the international community to deter its destabilizing influence in the region,” a celebration spokesperson mentioned.
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Carney would additionally “stand firm” in upholding human rights sanctions towards Iran, the spokesperson mentioned. “We will use every tool in our toolbox to crack down on this brutal regime and the individuals responsible for its egregious behaviour.”
In the meantime, the Liberals would maintain work to carry Iran accountable for downing a industrial airliner in 2020, killing 176 folks, amongst them 55 Canadian residents and 30 everlasting residents.
Households of the victims will proceed to have a pathway to everlasting residence, and Canada will preserve urgent Iran to supply monetary reparations, in response to the Liberal spokesperson.
The NDP didn’t reply.
Not one of the events anticipated to revive diplomatic relations
Mehrzad Zarei, father of passenger killed when Iran shot down Ukraine Worldwide Airways Flight PS752, at demonstration in Ottawa, Aug. 25, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
No matter who wins the election, Prof. Thomas Juneau doesn’t foresee a thaw in relations with Iran and believes Carney and Poilievre would probably comply with the same path.
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“I don’t expect that there would be major differences between the substance of the Iran policy of a Liberal or a Conservative government,” mentioned Juneau, a professor on the College of Ottawa’s Graduate Faculty of Public and Worldwide Affairs.
“The Conservatives have pledged to take a tougher line, but in practice there would be little they could do beyond harsher rhetoric.”
Shahrooz mentioned Iranian Canadians need a authorities dedicated to nearer interplay with the group and speedier motion to take away regime members.
“I’d like greater government action in terms of freezing the assets and identifying the assets that have been stolen from Iran and brought to Canada and parked here,” Shahrooz mentioned.
“And finally, what I’d like to see is greater due diligence happening before someone obtains a visa to come to this country. What I think we need, rather than just a simple policy change, is just a different philosophical approach,” he mentioned.
“We need to be more welcoming of people that have ties to Canada, or people that are human rights defenders that need to come to this country for safety. And we need to shut our doors to those that have ties to the regime.”
