EXCLUSIVE: Canada calls on Iran to respect human rights as Trump threatens regime

As anti-regime uprisings grip Iran for a sixth day, President Donald Trump has issued a direct threat of U.S. military intervention if the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Source: Facebook

As anti-regime uprisings grip Iran for a sixth day, President Donald Trump has issued a direct threat of U.S. military intervention if the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated terrorist group in both Canada and the U.S., shoots and kills peaceful protesters.

Trump shared a post to Truth Social around 3 a.m. Friday, warning the Islamist regime in Iran not to kill its own citizens. The White House shared the post on X later that morning.

“If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue,” Trump said in the post. “We are locked and loaded and ready to go. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Despite originally missing True North’s deadline, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) said it was monitoring the situation and noted concern over the regime’s potential human rights violations.

According to AP reporting, seven individuals were confirmed to have been shot and killed in Iran as of Thursday night, the fifth day of protests, which have spread to at least 50 towns and cities across the country.

The anti-regime and pro-Shah movement in Iran is being hailed as the largest protest since the Women, Life, Freedom protests in 2022-2023. Those protests were sparked when theocracy’s “morality police” abused and murdered a 22-year-old woman for violating its hijab rules.

GAC told True North in an email that Canada “continues to monitor developments” in the country and “reiterates” that Iranian officials and authorities “must uphold and respect human rights,” including the right to assemble and expression peacefully.

Josh Babcock, a spokesperson for GAC, also warned Canadians in Iran that Canada has “no resident diplomatic presence in Iran and the federal government’s ability to provide consular assistance is extremely limited.”

“The situation of human rights in Iran remains deeply concerning. Experts continue to underscore worsening trends – notably for women, ethnic and religious minorities, human rights defenders, and journalists,” Babcock said. “To this end, in 2025, Canada continued to denounce human rights violations in Iran, including through its leadership on the adoption of a resolution on the situation of human rights in Iran at in the UN General Assembly for the 23rd consecutive year. Concurrently, on December 15, Canada announced additional sanctions against four Iranian senior officials for their involvement in gross and systematic human rights violations.”

Babcock outlined that Canada continues to implement “measures to hold Iran accountable for its support of terrorism, gross human rights violations and destabilizing activities,” including sanctions on 215 Iranian individuals and 256 Iranian entities for peace and security violations, human rights abuses and support of terrorism.

Though Canada has listed the IRGC as a terrorist entity, Iranian-Canadians have been sounding the alarm about Canada giving a safe haven to the IRGC and regime officials for years, warning that the regime’s sleeper cells have targeted Iranian diaspora dissidents in Canada.

Though legacy media pins the protest on the failing economic situation, videos of women removing their state-required hijabs show that for many Iranians, toppling the regime is also about personal freedom from Islamic theocracy.

Salman Sima, an anti-regime activist and Iranian refugee in Canada who survived torture at the hands of the Islamist regime in Iran, told True North that pro-freedom Iranians he is in contact with in Iran welcome the support from the U.S. president, saying his threat will “save lives.”

“That was one of the most human rights tweets that any politician has ever written, because that saves lives. We know that despite the regime’s propaganda, they are really weak. They don’t have that power or that kind of intimidation that they claim,” Sima said. “They wanted to show that they are powerful, but they are not. Those cowardly IRGC thugs who oppress my fellow Iranians, they should be afraid.”

Sima said Canada should be doing more to support the Iranian protesters seeking freedom, as freedom is Canada’s unifying identity. He noted Prime Minister Mark Carney and his cabinet have yet to release a statement about the protests.

“It is in the best interest of Canadians (to stand with freedom supporters). Don’t forget that the Islamic regime killed a Canadian journalist. The Islamic regime killed 55 Canadians in an intentional act of terror, by shooting a missile at Flight PS752” he added. “These are Canadians who were killed by the Islamic regime, and the world without the Islamic regime is a better place to live, and Canada must do more for the sake of Canadians.”

Sima noted that Canada is a country allied with the U.S. and has to do more to deter the deaths of revolutionaries in Iran.

“Unfortunately, up to this moment, we see a lack of action, not just a lack of action, but a lack of a statement given in the world about this moment,” he said. “Canadian officials haven’t issued anything.”

Melissa Lantsman, the deputy leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, shared a post on Friday with the words “Free Iran” and the Lion and Sun flag, which represented Iran before the Islamic Revolution.

“We stand against tyranny, repression, and state-sponsored terror anywhere and everywhere it exists. I stand firmly with the brave people of Iran: with the women who refuse to be silenced, the workers who refuse to be broken, and the families who refuse to surrender hope,” Lantsman wrote on Facebook. “Proud to stand alongside thousands from our community in Thornhill and across Canada, united in solidarity with their fight for freedom.”

Sima is hosting a solidarity rally this Sunday in Toronto, inviting Canadians to stand with the Iranian protesters and support freedom in Iran.