Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand on Tuesday announced that Canada is reimposing sanctions on 11 Iranian entities. Global Affairs Canada said the entities contributed to Iran’s nuclear activities that raise proliferation concerns, to its ballistic missile program, or to the financing of what it called the regime’s malign activities.
The sanctions fall under Canada’s Special Economic Measures (Iran) Regulations. Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign ministry, issued the announcement from Paris. It said the timing coincides with the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting there.
According to the department, Canada removed the same entities from its sanctions list in 2016. It said that step recognized Iran’s progress under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an agreement meant to keep Iran’s nuclear program exclusively peaceful. The department said the decision matched steps by Canada’s partners after Iran allowed verification activities and limited its nuclear program under the deal.
Global Affairs Canada said Iran’s repeated failure to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency has since raised concerns about its nuclear work. The department said the new sanctions match efforts by Canada’s partners to disrupt Iranian financial networks that support the nuclear program. It said the measures further limit Iran’s access to sensitive technologies and funding.
The department said the move supports efforts with G7 partners and the wider international community to press Iran to meet its international obligations. It said those efforts call for Iran to resume full cooperation with the IAEA without delay and to return to negotiations.
In a statement, Anand said, “Iran must never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.” She said Canada will keep working with G7 partners and others toward an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program that is comprehensive, verifiable and durable.
The news release does not name the 11 entities. It points to a separate backgrounder, which was not part of the text provided. The release also does not say what penalties the sanctions carry or when they take effect.
The department gave figures on Canada’s wider Iran sanctions. It said Canada has sanctioned more than 500 Iranian individuals and entities since 2010 under two laws: the Special Economic Measures Act and the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, also known as the Sergei Magnitsky Law.
With this announcement, Canada has now carried out 25 rounds of sanctions that cover 237 people and 276 entities from Iran, the department said. That total spans the Iran, Hamas, and Russia regulations and the Magnitsky law.
The announcement followed another sanctions step the day before. Global Affairs Canada said on Nov. 9 that Canada was adding 38 entities and 24 individuals to its Russia sanctions list, which Anand announced on the margins of the same G7 meeting.