Canada sanctions 7 Iranians over security threats and human rights violations

The federal government placed sanctions on seven Iranians Tuesday in its 13th package of sanctions on the Iranian regime in under a year.

Those sanctioned are involved in activities "that gravely threaten international peace and security or that constitute gross and systemic violations of human rights in Iran," Global Affairs Canada said in a news release.

The sanctioned Iranians are:

• Ali Akbar Ahmadian, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
• Abdolkarim Bani Tarafi, Iranian Army brigadier general 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, a primary member of the board of directors of Qods Aviation Industries.
• Majid Reza Niyazi-Angili, a primary member of the board of directors of Qods Aviation Industries.
• 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," Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said in the news release.

"We will continue to use all the tools at our disposal to respond to Iran's egregious actions."

The move freezes any assets those sanctioned have in Canada, prevents them from having Canadian business dealings and makes them inadmissible to Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Canada has now sanctioned 170 Iranian individuals and 192 Iranian entities under the Special Economic Measures (Iran) Regulations.

Ottawa severed relations with Iran in 2012. Canada, along with the U.K., Sweden and Ukraine, has launched a case against Iran at the International Court of Justice over Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shooting down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 in 2020. All 176 people onboard died, including 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents.