The Islamic Republic of Iran designates the Royal Canadian Navy as a Terrorist Organization

Press Release?

Statement from the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Welp. Sometimes you wake up to the most random things imaginable. This is certainly one of them in my books.

The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released a statement today officially designating the Royal Canadian Navy as a Terrorist Entity under the ‘Tit-for-Tat’ trigger outlined in Article 7 of the Reciprocal Action Against the Declaration of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Terrorist Organization by the United States Act.

Here is the translated statement for those curious:

“Since the Canadian government has declared the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is recognized as one of the pillars of the country's official armed forces, a terrorist organization, contrary to the fundamental principles of international law, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on the principle of reciprocity and based on Article 7 of the "Reciprocal Action Against the Declaration of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Terrorist Organization by the United States" Act passed in 2019, which stipulates that "all countries that in any way comply with or support the decision of the United States of America to declare the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization shall be subject to reciprocity," considers the Royal Canadian Navy to be subject to the aforementioned Act and its provisions, and therefore, within the framework of reciprocity, identifies and declares it as a terrorist organization.”

For a bit of context, under the Reciprocal Action Against the Declaration of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Terrorist Organization by the United States Act, the Iranian government includes a clause stating that any country that supports or complies with the U.S. decision to label the IRGC as terrorists is also subject to reciprocity.

This retaliation clause is in direct response to the Canadian government's decision last June to declare the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity. Although quite late to respond, the decision to designate the Royal Canadian Navy specifically is a curious one.

The likely scenario is that the choice was made based on operational proximity. The Royal Canadian Navy is the branch of the Canadian military most likely to physically encounter Iranian forces. They're really the only branch that maintains a tangible, visible presence near Iranian territory. By designating the Navy specifically, Iran is creating a legal pretext to harass or target Canadian vessels in these international waters under the guise of Counter-Terrorism operations.

Of course, I don't expect we will see such things; however, it is likely the chain of logic they're following here. There's also, of course, the diplomatic factor—the symbolic nature of such a gesture. It serves less as a practical, legal tool and more as a direct political signal to both domestic audiences and the international community. If its own state forces can be criminalized by foreign powers, then surely it reserves the right to strip Western states that go along with the U.S. decision of their sovereign immunity in return.

Again, that is their logic, I presume. Realistically, this changes very little on the ground, save for the legal context to potentially harass Canadian vessels if they desire, though I don't think we'll see such an uptick. In the meantime, we do get to enjoy all the jokes and memes we can milk out of this!

To all of my friends in the RCN, congrats on your new designation! I don't really know what else to say on this matter at this point in time. It's a fairly standard ‘tit-for-tat’ retaliation. These sort of things are quite common.

I for one will not be the person making a huge deal out of it myself, however it was notable enough that I believe it needed a post!