The Regulations Amending the Special Economic Measures (Iran) Regulations, SOR/2025-274, under the Special Economic Measures Act, reflect Canada’s ongoing response to gross and systematic human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran. These amendments add four individuals to Schedule 1 of the Iran Regulations, expanding the scope of Canadian sanctions in alignment with a broader strategy to hold Iranian officials accountable for human rights abuses. The newly listed individuals are identified for their participation in repressive activities and their roles in facilitating policies that perpetuate violations of fundamental rights, particularly through positions within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s prison system. These designations prohibit Canadians, and persons in Canada or Canadian citizens abroad, from dealing with their property, entering into transactions with them, providing services, or otherwise facilitating access to goods and resources, while also rendering them inadmissible to Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

The regulatory amendments occur against the backdrop of a long-standing pattern of human rights abuses in Iran. The Government of Iran has systematically targeted political dissidents, journalists, human rights defenders, and ethnic and religious minorities, with women and girls facing particular vulnerability. Security forces, including the IRGC, routinely employ excessive and lethal force against protesters, often conducting arrests and detentions without due process. The judiciary and prison systems are complicit in maintaining a climate of impunity, with political prisoners subjected to sham trials, forced confessions, and denial of adequate legal representation. Detention conditions often include prolonged solitary confinement, overcrowding, inadequate medical care, and psychological and physical abuse. Senior officials and institutional actors are directly involved in orchestrating these violations as state policy, with little evidence of internal accountability or compliance with international human rights standards.

Canada has coordinated with the global community to respond to these abuses. Since 2003, Canada has led annual United Nations General Assembly resolutions on the human rights situation in Iran, securing the support of multiple co-sponsor states to pressure Iran for reform. The UN Human Rights Council’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission has been tasked with monitoring violations, particularly regarding gender, ethnicity, religion, and political affiliation, complementing the ongoing work of the Special Rapporteur on Iran. Canada, together with partners such as the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States, has imposed multiple rounds of targeted sanctions against Iranian officials and entities responsible for human rights abuses, reflecting a consistent policy of using economic measures to encourage compliance with international human rights norms.

Since the establishment of the Iran Regulations in 2010, and their expansion in 2022 and 2025, Canada has listed over 200 Iranian individuals and more than 250 entities under the sanctions framework. The amendments in SOR/2025-274 emphasize Canada’s commitment to denouncing human rights violations and applying concrete economic and legal consequences to those responsible.

Canada (274/2025) January 13, 2026
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