Canada adds elite Iranian force to terror list 22 декабря 2012, 12:55

Canada's Public Safety Minister Vic Toews. ©REUTERS

Canada added Iran's Quds Force to a list of terrorist groups on Thursday, saying the elite special operations unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard had been arming the Taliban, Hamas and others, AFP reports. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said the Quds Force was responsible for "exporting the Iranian Revolution through activities such as facilitating terrorist operations." He accused it of providing "arms, funding and paramilitary training to extremist groups, including the Taliban, Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command." The commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards told a news conference in Tehran in September that members of the Quds Force were present in Syria and Lebanon but insisted they were only there to provide "counsel." Canada lists 43 entities as terrorist groups. On Wednesday, it announced it would remove Iran's Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) from its list after similar moves by both the United States and the European Union. The MEK is blamed for the killing Americans in Iran in the 1970s and an attack on US soil in 1992 but says it has now laid down its arms and is working to overthrow the Islamic regime in Tehran through peaceful means.

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