Iran declared the Royal Canadian Navy a “terrorist organization” Tuesday in retaliation for Canada giving the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) the same designation in 2024.

Iran said in a statement announcing the designation that Canada was acting “contrary to the fundamental principles of international law” by naming the IRGC a terrorist group, according to the Times of Israel. The IRGC has been responsible for multiple attacks on Western forces in the Middle East, and Iran has long supported other terror groups abroad.

Iran did not specify any course of action against the Canadian Navy in their statement, according to reports. (RELATED: Trump Suggests He’ll Strike Iran Again If Military Buildup Continues)

The HMCS Margaret Brooke of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) is pictured docked at the port of Buenos Aires on February 11, 2025. (Photo by Luis Robayo/AFP via Getty Images)

The Royal Canadian Navy, while technologically on par with most of the West, is comparatively smaller than the U.S. and other Western powers in Europe.

Iran has been increasingly antagonistic to Western powers in the wake of U.S. strikes that crippled the nation’s nuclear program earlier this year. Moreover, President Donald Trump has suggested that he would strike Iran again if they attempted to revive their nuclear ambitions.

The IRGC told many of its related militias in April not to pick a fight with Trump or Israel, with one militia commander saying that the President was “ready to take the war with us to worse levels, we know that, and we want to avoid such a bad scenario.”

Spokespersons for the Canadian military did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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