OAN Staff Cory Hawkins
12:14 PM – Wednesday, December 31, 2025
Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs took aim at the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), labeling them a terrorist organization on Tuesday as retaliation for Canada’s 2024 designation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a “terrorist entity.”
The ministry confirmed that the decision was made in reaction to Ottawa announcing the Guards as a terror group, “contrary to the fundamental principles of international law,” with no pretense of accusing the RCN of terrorist activity.
Iran “within the framework of reciprocity, identifies and declares the Royal Canadian Navy as a terrorist organization,” the report added, without specifying what consequences, if any, the force will face.
In June 2024, it became illegal for anyone in Canada, citizen or not, to knowingly deal with property owned or linked to the Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and it froze all IRGC-related property in the country.
Canadian authorities report the listing blocked finances for terrorist regimes and brought charges against anyone implicated in terrorism.
The IRGC is a theocratically controlled wing of the Iranian military that controls a major portion of the Iranian economy, acting independently without oversight of the Iranian government. It reportedly funds terrorist forces across the Middle East.
The United States designated the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) back in April 2019.
“The IRGC has been directly involved in terrorist plotting; its support for terrorism is foundational and institutional, and it has killed U.S. citizens. It is also responsible for taking hostages and wrongfully detaining numerous U.S. persons, several of whom remain in captivity in Iran today,” the State Department said.
“The Iranian regime is responsible for the deaths of at least 603 American service members in Iraq since 2003. This accounts for 17% of all deaths of U.S. personnel in Iraq from 2003 to 2011, and is in addition to the many thousands of Iraqis killed by the IRGC’s proxies,” the State Department added.
Canada mentioned it previously listed “several terrorist entities that have benefited from the IRGC’s patronage,” including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The Qods Force, a wing of the IRGC, was listed as a terrorist organization in Canada in December 2012 after severing diplomatic relations with Iran the same year.
“In November 2022, Canada designated the Islamic Republic of Iran as a regime that has engaged in terrorism and systematic or gross human rights violations. As a result, under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, thousands of senior Iranian government officials, including top IRGC members, are inadmissible to Canada,” the Canadian statement noted.
The Liberal Party of Canada was hesitant to designate the IRGC as a terrorist group, even after the United States did so. Canadian officials were reported to be concerned about “potential unintended consequences on Iranians who were forced into mandatory service or sent money home from Canada.”
Officials also suggested that they did not want to mirror the United States’ “hawkish” moves on Iran, as there were concerns Iran might target the Canadian military in the Middle East in retaliation.
However, concerns ceased after the IRGC shot down a Ukrainian airliner in 2020, killing all 176 passengers and crew, with 85 of those passengers being Canadian citizens and permanent residents.
Left-wing voices still pushed Canada against antagonizing Iran, including former Canadian Ambassador to Iran Dennis Horak, who thought labeling the IRGC as a terrorist organization, despite blatantly murdering 85 Canadians, would be “counterproductive” due to the chance that Iranians would stop cooperating with investigations of the airline disaster.
“There will be time to address the need for accountability once these initial stages are done. That effort should be centered in the next stage on securing compensation directly from Iran consistent with Islamic law and tradition,” Horak advised in January 2020.
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