Canada banning over 10,000 of Iran's IRGC leaders from entering country

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Canada moved on Friday to institute bans on over 10,000 senior leaders in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), including its elite Quds Force, for an ongoing "brutal" crackdown on mass protests.

"We are using the most powerful tools at our disposal to crack down on this brutal regime. Our government will continue to pursue all the tools at our disposal," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters.

"This will make the top 50% of the IRGC leadership, the over 10,000 officers and senior members most responsible for this heinous state behavior inadmissible to Canada, denying them access to Canadian territory and opportunities," he added.

Trudeau emphasized that the designation is a permanent decision, and that those sanctioned will be "inadmissible to Canada forever."

The decision comes as Canada marks 1,000 days since Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was shot down by the IRGC while it was departing Tehran, killing all 176 passengers on board, including 57 Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

Speaking after Trudeau, Deputy Minister Chrystia Freeland said the Iranian government is "repressive, theocratic and misogynist."

"The IRGC leadership are terrorists. The IRGC is a terrorist organization," she said. "We will not tolerate financial transactions with Iran that are associated with the IRGC and its proxies."

Iran has for weeks found itself in the midst of mass popular unrest following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last month.

Amini died Sept. 16 under mysterious circumstances after being detained by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating Iran's Islamic dress code.

Iranian officials have attempted to cast Amini's death as the result of a heart attack she suffered while in custody, but that explanation has fallen flat with protesters and Amini's family who say she was brutally beaten to death.