Iran’s judiciary said on Tuesday it had created a special panel with authority to pursue criminal cases against people accused of violating export foreign-exchange return rules, as the country grapples with sharp currency instability.
Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir told a news conference that the head of the judiciary issued a new order on Monday to form the panel.
“He gave a new instruction for a special board to be created that must, with the cooperation of other officials and urgently, enter cases involving those who have committed currency crimes,” Jahangir said.
He said the focus included exporters who were required to return foreign currency proceeds but failed to do so, a practice officials blame for worsening volatility in the FX market.
Jahangir said the panel would have the power to launch criminal prosecutions related to those alleged violations.
Catherine Perez-Shakdam, a French-born Jewish commentator who has said she spent years gaining access to senior figures in Iran’s ruling establishment, posted a message of solidarity with protesters on Tuesday, telling Iranians “you are not alone” as demonstrations continued.
In a lengthy post on X addressed to “the people of Iran,” Perez-Shakdam praised protesters for confronting what she described as decades of repression.
“You continue to stand, to speak, and to insist on the simplest right of all: to live as free citizens rather than as subjects,” she wrote.
“You deserve a country governed by law, not by terror; by accountability, not by corruption; by consent, not by coercion,” she wrote, ending her message with “solidarity and respect.”
In a statement, the ministry said Canada’s move violated international law by branding an official branch of Iran’s armed forces as “terrorist,” and said the new designation was a reciprocal response.
Canada listed the IRGC under its Criminal Code in June 2024, a step Ottawa said was aimed at curbing alleged Iranian influence operations and holding Tehran to account over security and human-rights concerns.
The exchange adds to long-running tensions between the two countries. Canada has imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on Iranian officials in recent years and has cited the IRGC’s role in domestic repression as part of its rationale.
Canada severed diplomatic ties with Iran in 2012 and closed its embassy in Tehran, leaving the two countries without formal diplomatic relations.