Global Affairs Canada announced Aug. 8 that those targeted by Canada’s 13th package of sanctions against the Iranian regime since October 2022, under the Special Economic Measures (Iran) Regulations, include a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy and Strategic Centre and “other senior Iranian officials involved in entities that supply materials to Iran’s repressive national Law Enforcement Command. The sanctions also target individuals who occupy senior positions in state-directed firms that produce lethal combat drones used by Iran’s armed forces to destabilize the region or that are exported to Russia for use in its illegal war against Ukraine.”
The measures impose a dealings prohibition on the listed individuals, which will effectively freeze any assets they may hold in Canada, and also render the named persons inadmissible to Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
Those sanctioned, effective Aug. 8, include:
- Ali Akbar Ahmadian, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council;
- Abdolkarim Bani Tarafi, brigadier general in Iran’s Army and chairman of the Iran Aviation Industry Organization;
- Fatemeh Haghshenas, chief executive officer and member of the board of directors of Imen Sanat Zaman Fara;
- Masoumeh Teymouri, chief of the board of directors of Imen Sanat Zaman Fara;
- Reza Khaki, as a primary member of the board of directors of Qods Aviation Industries
- Majid Reza Niyazi-Angili, as a primary member of the board of directors of Qods Aviation Industries; and
- Vali Arlanizadeh, member of the board of directors of Qods Aviation Industries.
“Today’s sanctions send a clear message to the Iranian regime that Canada will not tolerate its gross and systematic violations of human rights and its ongoing grave breach of international peace and security,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly said in a statement. “We will continue to use all the tools at our disposal to respond to Iran’s egregious actions.”
Ottawa said Canada has sanctioned 170 Iranian individuals and 192 Iranian entities, including the IRGC and key members of the regime’s security, intelligence and economic apparatuses.
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