IRGC-linked official granted entry to Canada

An official linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated terrorist organization in Canada, was recently granted entry into the country as a temporary resident.

Scarlett Grace
  |   April 29, 2026   |   News Analysis   |   Be the first to comment

An officer with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is set to touch down in Canada today. Mehdi Taj has reportedly been granted a temporary resident permit and is landing, or has already landed, in Vancouver as of April 28.

Taj is also known as a senior official within Iran’s football federation.

In June 2024, Canada officially designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization, four years after the Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 was shot down by IRGC forces, killing 176 people, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.

Despite that designation, enforcement appears non-existent.

Reports have long suggested a significant IRGC presence in Canada. In 2023, Global News cited at least 700 operatives in the country, while more recent reporting from the New York Post has put that number as high as 1,000.

Iranian Canadian activists say the true figure could be even higher. Since the 2024 designation, only one known IRGC affiliate has reportedly been deported.

So how is someone with IRGC ties being granted entry at all?

Voices within the Iranian Canadian community are sounding the alarm, including Salar Gholami, a prominent organizer of the Iranian pro-freedom demonstrations in Toronto that have drawn hundreds of thousands of participants.

The International Centre for Human Rights (ICHR) is calling on the federal government to revoke Taj’s visa and deport him immediately, citing Canada’s own inadmissibility rules tied to terrorist entities.

The question is simple: what was the point of designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization if we’re just going to grant them temporary resident permits? They shouldn’t even be coming to the country, but Canada rolls out the red carpet.

UPDATE (April 29):

Mehdi Taj was reportedly denied entry into Canada ahead of the FIFA Congress in Vancouver. According to Iran International, Canadian authorities blocked Taj and several other officials from entering the country, and they ultimately left.

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Scarlett Grace

Anti-Discrimination Reporter

Scarlett Grace is a Canadian journalist and musician from Peterborough, Ontario. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Trent University and has spent over a decade performing live and releasing original music.

In 2022, her involvement in Canada’s freedom movement marked a turning point in her career and public voice. She later joined Rebel News, where she works as an anti-discrimination journalist, reporting extensively on the rise of antisemitism in Canada and the Iranian uprising.

https://twitter.com/ScarlettGrace92

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