Ottawa, Jun 20 (IANS): Canada has declared Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, as a "terrorist entity".

Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced on Wednesday afternoon, saying that Canada will use all of the tools at its disposal "to combat the terrorist activity" of the IRGC.

Thousands of senior Iranian government officials, including top IRGC members, are now banned from entering Canada, and those already inside the country may be investigated and removed, LeBlanc said.

As an immediate consequence of the listing, Canadian financial institutions, such as banks and brokerages, are required to immediately freeze the property of a listed entity, and it is a criminal offence for anyone in Canada and Canadians abroad to knowingly deal with property owned or controlled by a terrorist group, according to a press statement issued by Public Safety Canada as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

According to local media, charitable organisations can lose their status if they maintain their connections to terrorist groups, and people found to be associated with those groups can be denied entry into Canada.

The US designated the IRGC a "terrorist group" in 2019.