Canada identifies 20 senior Iranian ex-officials on its soil - Global News

Twenty senior Iranian officials have now been found living in Canada, Global News reported on Friday, citing immigration officials, as Ottawa moves to crack down on top former Islamic Republic figures amid pressure from the Iranian diaspora.

The latest case involves an Iranian citizen accused of serving as a top official in Tehran, the report added.

The man is scheduled to appear before the Immigration and Refugee Board in June.

The report said that his name was initially released to Global News but was later withheld at the request of the board because the deportation hearing will be held behind closed doors.

The man is an official in Iran’s oil ministry, the report said citing Iranian media.

The case is part of a broader crackdown launched by the Canadian government in 2022 targeting alleged high-level Iranian officials living in the country, Global News said.

The deportation hearings for these individuals have been held largely in secret, and according to the report, only one deportation has been completed so far, although some individuals have left Canada voluntarily.

In January, Canadian authorities launched deportation proceedings against an Iranian woman they said was a senior member of the Iranian government.

Earlier in March 2014, Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) ordered the deportation of Salman Samani, Iran's deputy minister of interior during Hassan Rouhani's term as president.

Salmani was the second high-ranking Iranian official who had been ordered to leave Canada. In February that year, Majid Iranmanesh, a director general at Iran's Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology, was also forced to leave.

In June 2024, after pressure from members of the Iranian diaspora, Ottawa moved to officially designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, effectively barring thousands of senior Iranian officials including top IRGC members from entering Canada.