Israeli media reports alleging that senior Iranian regime officials are attempting to seek asylum in Canada in the wake of Israeli military strikes have ignited a storm of criticism, sparking calls for deportations from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Laura Cellier, the host of Middle East Now on i24News English, announced Tuesday that top Iranian officials were reportedly fleeing Iran and seeking asylum in Canada as Israel carries out offensive strikes.
Casey Babb, a senior fellow at the Macdonald Laurier Institute, suggested senior Iranian officials may be attempting to do so as “their former colleagues have already made it” to Canada.
Former IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus echoed Babb’s analysis and alleged that Canada has become “maybe one of the worst places in the West for Jews” and that Canada has “no political will” to “actually defend” itself.
Poilievre called for their immediate deportations on X.
As True North reported in January, Iranian-Canadians have been sounding the alarm about Canada giving safe haven to regime officials.
Salman Sima, a survivor of torture and a staunch advocate for a free Iran, told True North that hundreds of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members have been reported in Canada, retraumatizing many members of Iran’s refugee diaspora.
“Those valid reports that regime operatives, agents, and top officials have a luxury life in the West with the Iranian people’s oil money, with the money that doesn’t belong to them, of course, make me and my friends, who are freedom-loving Iranians, angry,” said Sima.
He said the Canadian government needs to do more to ensure human rights violators and dictatorship officials do not have a haven in Canada. Sima added that Canadians who side with the Islamic regime and protest Israel’s attack on Iranian officials are no friends of the Iranian people.
“Please stop lecturing political prisoners and the brave people of Iran. And please stop educating us about the country that we truly love,” he said, noting the open support for terrorism in Canada. “Where were you when the Islamic regime killed over 3,000 people in November 2019, and shot down Flight PS752, and killed 55 Iranian Canadians? No, this is not pro-Iran. Don’t dare pronounce my country’s name when you support jihad and terrorism.”
As reported by True North, the PS752 flight shot down over Tehran in 2020 killed 176, including 85 Canadian citizens and permanent residents.
Rebecca Purdy, a senior spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency, told True North that several factors “affect the ability to remove a person from Canada,” which stand in the way of immediate deportations, including subsequent applications an individual can make, such as the Pre-Removal Risk Assessment applications.
“All persons are afforded due process against any decision made against them, which can include seeking judicial review of those decisions,” Purdy said. “The CBSA only actions a removal order once all legal avenues of recourse have been exhausted.”
She said that “most” of the data the agency has on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Islamic Regime asylum claims comes from data reported as of June 6, 2025 — before Israel began bombing Iran.
According to the report, the agency had reviewed 17,800 applications for potential inadmissibility in connection with the Iranian regime. As of that date, 20 senior officials of the Islamic Regime in Iran have been found inadmissible to Canada by the CBSA. The CBSA further explained that 19 senior officials were already in Canada, with one having been deported so far and another being denied entry.
“Our strong response to suspected senior officials in the Iranian regime remains in place and CBSA continues to take action to stop them from seeking or finding safe haven in Canada,” Purdy said in an email. “When the CBSA becomes aware of cases where a temporary or permanent resident inside Canada may be inadmissible as a senior official of a designated regime, the CBSA completes a thorough investigation.”
She noted that Canada banned the leadership of the Islamic regime in Iran, including senior officials, from entering Canada in 2022 “for their engagement in terrorism and systemic and gross human rights violations.”
Of those over 17,000 applications, 131 visas have been cancelled by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, with multiple investigations remaining ongoing. IRCC similarly told True North it considers any senior official of the regime from June 23, 2003, inadmissible to Canada.
The IRGC has been listed as a terrorist entity; its members have had visas cancelled, and investigations and inadmissibility hearings have been launched to prevent them from entering or remaining in Canada.