Military sanctions might do more harm than good
Difficult, and could alienate Iranian leaders
OTTAWA • Sanctioning Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may make Canadians feel better, but it will come at a cost, according to one expert.
“Sanctioning the entire military of a country is extremely complicated and if you actually carry through on the implications of that, it is astonishingly labour intensive,” said Thomas Juneau, an associate professor at the University of Ottawa.
He said sanctioning the IRGC at this moment would also risk the cooperation Iran is offering into the investigation of downed Ukraine International Airlines flight 752, killing 176 people, including 57 Canadians.
The IRGC is a major component of the Iranian military, virtually a parallel army that was formed after the Iranian revolution in 1979. It was initially meant to protect the new Islamic republic from the existing military structure, which was considered loyal to the former Shah.
Now the IRGC numbers 150,000 and oversees the country’s missile program and nuclear efforts. It’s also linked to militias fighting throughout the Middle East, supports terrorist groups and oversaw the air defence unit that shot down flight 752.
The House of Commons voted in 2018 with both Liberal and Conservative support to designate the IRGC as a terrorist entity. That designation has not yet been put in place, but if enacted it would make it a crime to participate or contribute to the group’s activities.
The Conservatives sponsored that initial motion and party leader Andrew Scheer called for the government to implement it immediately. On Monday, Jewish group B’nai Brith and some Iranian-canadian community leaders called for the government to move on it as well.
B’nai Brith CEO Michael Mostyn said the IRGC needs to be confronted. “It serves as a constant threat to the safety and security to civilians in the region, to Israel and to Canada and Canadian interests,” he said.
A statement from the Public Safety department said they have already moved to sanction parts of the corps.
“We continue to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force as a terrorist entity, and we also continue to impose sanctions on Iran and the IRGC targeting all four of its branches as well as senior-level members of its senior leadership,” reads the statement.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked about the issue at a press conference this past weekend.
“Our focus right now is providing the support to grieving families that need answers, need closure, that need justice, that need access to consular support, both in Iran and in Canada.” he said. “We are doing everything we can to ensure that, that happens in the short term, but obviously there are reflections in the medium and long term as we move forward.”
Iran has granted access to Canadian consular officials who are helping families of the victims repatriate their remains and deal with other issues. It has also allowed Canadian investigators from the Transportation Safety Board access to the crash site and the opportunity to inspect the wreckage.
“Right now, the next few days or weeks, is not the time to slap additional sanctions on Iran,” said Juneau, who added that listing the IRGC as a terrorist entity would not be useful in the long term.
There are approximately 150,000 members of the IRGC today, plus hundreds of thousands of veterans of the unit. Juneau said that would make sanctioning them or banning members from Canada incredibly difficult. “The enforcement of this is mind boggling in its complexity.”