Australia on Thursday officially designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a state sponsor of terrorism after intelligence linked the group to attacks on Jewish centers in Sydney and Melbourne.
“The Government committed to taking this step following Australian Security Intelligence Organization‘s assessment that the IRGC had orchestrated attacks against Australia's Jewish Community,” the Canberra government said.
In August, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, flanked by Australia’s domestic spy chief, publicly said the IRGC orchestrated the arson attacks on the Lewis' Continental Kitchen in Sydney in October 2024 and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December 2024.
Australian domestic spy agency Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) assessed that the IRGC used a “complex web of proxies” to carry out attacks on Australian soil.
“These cowardly attacks on Australian soil were designed to undermine and sow division in our multicultural society, by targeting Jewish Australians to inflict harm and stoke fear.”
The Australian government responded to the attacks by passing the Criminal Code Amendment (State Sponsors of Terrorism) Act 2025, which creates a new framework allowing the Government to respond to state-sponsored terrorism.
Under the new law, the government may designate a foreign state entity that “has engaged in, or otherwise supported or advocated for, the doing of terrorist acts targeted at Australia.”
The IRGC is the first listing of a state sponsor of terrorism under the new framework.
While the IRGC has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States since 2019, this is the first time Canberra is listing a foreign state entity under its federal terrorism framework.
In a decision issued on Monday, Justice Anne Turley dismissed Mohammadreza Vadiati’s application for judicial review, finding that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) had acted fairly and reasonably when it ruled him inadmissible under section 34(1)(f) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), which bars members of terrorist organizations.
Vadiati, who served two years as a conscript in the IRGC before seeking asylum in Canada, argued that his service was involuntary and that immigration officials failed to account for coercion or the impact on his family.
The court rejected those claims, saying he was given a full opportunity to respond to officials’ concerns.
“The applicant has failed to establish any procedural unfairness in the decision-making process,” Justice Turley wrote, concluding that conscription in the IRGC “does not negate membership in the group” under the immigration law.
Ottawa formally listed the IRGC as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code in June 2024.
Under Canada’s anti-terrorism laws, membership in or support for a listed terrorist entity can result in inadmissibility, asset freezes, and criminal penalties.
The listing of the IRGC – which Canada blames for human rights abuses and the 2020 downing of flight PS752 – has broad implications for thousands of Iranian nationals who performed compulsory service.
Canadian politicians, including MP Kevin Vuong and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, have said the listing aims to curb Tehran’s influence in Canada and prevent IRGC-linked individuals from operating on Canadian soil.
The court also confirmed that humanitarian or family reunification arguments cannot override terrorism-related inadmissibility findings under the IRPA.
The report said a Tehran-based nuclear diagnostics firm, Imen Gostar Raman Kish, advertised that several of its radiation-safety devices use Geiger-Müller radiation-detection tubes produced by Centronic Ltd, a company that supplies the UK Ministry of Defense and was acquired last year by French defense-electronics group Exosens.
According to the report, Imen Gostar is run by senior figures tied to Iran’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The United States has sanctioned SPND, describing it as the successor to Iran’s pre-2004 nuclear weapons effort, while Tehran says its nuclear program is purely peaceful.
The Financial Times said corporate filings show Imen Gostar is chaired by Mohammad Reza Zare' Zaghalchi (Zoghalchi), an SPND official sanctioned by the US Treasury in October for procurement work it said had “direct applications to nuclear-weapons development.”
It added that the company’s vice-chair is Ali Fouladvand, SPND’s head of research, who is also under US sanctions.
Some of Imen Gostar’s equipment is promoted for export in brochures issued by the Mindex Center, Iran’s defense ministry export agency, which also markets Shahed drones, Ghadir submarines, and several ballistic missiles.
Centronic told the outlet it had no record of any transaction or commercial relationship with Iranian entities.
The company said it applies strict export-control procedures, systematically evaluates customers for re-export risks, and would investigate how its components may have ended up in Iranian devices.
Financial Times said it found no evidence that Centronic or any other Western manufacturer knowingly exported items to Iran or to sanctioned Iranian military or nuclear-linked companies.
The FT said it was unclear how the UK-made parts were obtained, noting that Iranian entities have a record of using intermediaries and front companies to source Western dual-use items amid sanctions.
It said the discovery fits a wider pattern of alleged SPND-linked procurement networks in Europe and Asia and follows earlier FT reporting on covert scientific outreach to Russia for technologies US officials say could have nuclear-weapons-related applications.
An investigation by Iran International earlier this year documented a Vienna-based hub tied to SPND-linked front firms purchasing neutronics-related and other sensitive components with potential applications in nuclear weapons design.
Washington has sanctioned more than 30 SPND scientists and multiple affiliated entities, saying the organization oversees “dual-use research and development activities applicable to nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons delivery systems.”
In 2024, Iran’s parliament formally recognized SPND under Iranian law, placed it under the authority of the Supreme Leader and exempted its budget from parliamentary oversight.
Heydari had led Iran’s Army Ground Forces for more than seven years before being replaced on November 22 by Brigadier General Ali Jahanshahi, as part of a wider reshuffle across Iran’s military following the June war.
Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters is the unified combatant command under the Armed Forces General Staff, responsible for operational design and coordination across the army and the Revolutionary Guards.
The deputy post was previously held by Major General Hossein Hassani Sa'di, according to Iranian news agency ISNA, while Major General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi currently commands the headquarters.
In a post in Arabic on X, Larijani offered condolences for the deaths, describing those killed as having “reached their wish.”
He said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “continues his adventurism to the point that everyone reaches the conclusion that there is no path left except direct confrontation with Israel.”
Hezbollah said the strike on Sunday killed Tabtabai, the group’s top military official, and wounded 28 others.
Israel’s military said it targeted Tabtabai in Beirut’s southern suburbs, calling him a senior official overseeing Hezbollah’s military readiness, in one of the most significant escalations since a US-brokered ceasefire in November 2024.
Iran has condemned the attack as a violation of the ceasefire and a “war crime,” and Hezbollah has said it crossed a “red line,” adding that its leadership would decide how to respond.
The United States designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization and sanctioned Tabtabai in 2016, describing him as a key commander within the group.
