The Canadian government is looking at ways to “responsibly” designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
He made the comments on Monday at a ceremony in Richmond Hill, Ont., marking four years since the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shot down passenger flight Ukraine International PS 752, killing all 176 people, including many Canadians, on board.
“The Iranian regime must be held accountable,” Trudeau said, adding that thousands of people have lost their lives at the hand of that regime.
“We will continue our work, including continuing to look for ways to responsibly list the IRGC as a terrorist organization and explore any and all other options,” Trudeau said Monday.
“One of the things that distinguishes Canada from that regime is we are a country of laws and principles and need to make sure we continue to follow those laws and principles, because that is the way we hold that regime to account,” he added.
Trudeau had said in November 2023 that the government would “continue to watch and make sure we’re able to do everything we can that is responsible against the impact of the IRGC.”
“As I have said many many times, the Iranian regime responsible for the shooting down of PS752, killing of its own citizens and killing of Canadian citizens, its sponsorship of terror around the world, means that we will continue to do everything necessary, both to hold that regime to account, to limit its impact around the world and to protect Canadians,” Trudeau said at the time.
On Jan. 8, 2020, Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was hit minutes after taking off from Tehran, Iran, by two Iranian surface-to-air missiles as tensions ran high in Iran following the U.S. assassination of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds force.
Fifty-five Canadian citizens and 30 Canadian permanent residents were among those killed.