The death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has once again brought the focus on the role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as the fulcrum of the survival of the regime.
Raisi became president in 2021. The IRGC had already acquired control over more than half of Iran's economy. However, since Raisi came to power, the IRGC penetrated more deeply into various government institutions.
International calls to designate IRGC as a terrorist organization increased in volume after it killed as many as 1,500 people in shootings during a nationwide, anti-regime uprising in November 2019. Its paramilitary arm, the Basij, carried out the vast majority of the 750 deaths of participants in another uprising that began in September 2022.
Recent revelations indicate how IRGC smuggles weapons to the Houthi militants in Yemen, for use in the ongoing terror campaign against maritime shipping, and to numerous other terrorist groups in the region. The IRGC's international profile has grown in recent years alongside its fearsome reputation on the streets of Iranian cities.
Each of those activities is sufficient justification, on its own, for designating the IRGC as a terrorist entity. Any Western democracy with a clear understanding of human rights should understand that, and certainly Canada should. Yet only the United States has shown the courage to do so.
Majorities in the Canadian Parliament, the UK Parliament, and the European Parliament have voted in favor of the designation, but political leadership has dragged its heels on doing the right thing.
Canada has an opportunity to help break that impasse and begin bridging the gaps between American and European policies toward the theocracy. Its own designation of the IRGC would have tremendous significance and help the international community to understand that change is within reach and that the mullahs' long-term influence over the region is not inevitable.
That significance would be amplified further if Canada acted quickly at this moment and declared the terrorist designation while Raisi's death is still a fresh wound to the regime and the IRGC. Raisi was the IRGC champion, and although his role is by no means irreplaceable, the IRGC is sure to be going through a period of declining morale. There would perhaps be no better time to tighten the IRGC's isolation and attack its financial underpinning.
Movements working toward the ouster of Iran's theocratic dictatorship, such as the main opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), have long argued that without a powerful IRGC to suppress uprisings and public expressions of discontent, revolt inside Iran would continually grow until the entire regime is overthrown. They have also pointed out that Western nations collectively can play an important role in weakening the IRGC, without direct intervention in Iran's affairs.
NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi, in a message to a meeting at the Canadian Parliament this week, pointed out that officially listing the IRGC is an "important step showing solidarity with the people of Iran, especially the young boys and girls who are standing up to the IRGC and refusing to give in to its cruelty. The IRGC is the regime's primary belligerent arm in the region."
The mullahs' rule has already been threatened at least five times in six years by successive popular uprisings. The ensuing wave of executions has not been able to quell the anti-regime message or dissident activity.
The persistent climate of unrest has tested the ability of the IRGC and its affiliates to keep the lid on a pending revolution. And now, the IRGC can be made to fully face that test while its morale is still flagging in the wake of Raisi's death.
Designating the IRGC as a terrorist entity is the simplest, most straightforward action that any nation could take to demonstrate real support for the Iranian people in their fight against tyranny. It would make it illegal for anyone in any of the designating countries to support or promote the relevant entity in any way, even if just by displaying its emblem. This would then have an immediately noticeable impact on the IRGC's international profile, affecting its access to financial capital.
It may only require decisiveness from one Western government to set off the chain reaction that will see the IRGC isolated from the entirety of the free world and left in a weakened state at the time of the next great popular uprising in Iran. Why shouldn't Canada be that government?
Shahram Golestaneh, a resident of Ottawa, is the President of Iran Democratic Association in Canada.
