A government strategy to prevent Iranian regime members from resettling in Canada is struggling to show results after border security officials lost their fourth deportation case.
In a decision obtained by Global News, the Immigration and Refugee Board declined to approve the deportation of Afshin Pirnoon, a former director general in Iran’s roads ministry.
Pirnoon came to Canada on a tourist visa in 2022 and was working as an Uber driver when the Canada Border Services Agency launched deportation proceedings against him.
The CBSA alleged the 50-year-old was not allowed in Canada because he was a longtime senior functionary and “political asset” of the Islamic Republic.
But on Aug. 12, Refugee Board member Madona Mokbel rejected the CBSA’s deportation case, ruling that despite his position and more than two decades in the service of the regime, Pirnoon didn’t qualify as a “senior official.”
“Though his title may suggest on its face that he had a high-level position within the civil service, when examining all of the evidence, the panel finds that he did not exert significant influence on the exercise of government power,” she wrote.
The case is the latest in which an IRB judge has rebuffed the CBSA’s attempts to oust Iranian officials from Canada under a program the government put in place to stop them from using the country as a safe haven.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government banned senior Iranian officials from entering Canada in 2022 on the grounds they were part of a regime engaged in terrorism and rights abuses.
With the latest loss, only one regime member has been successfully removed in the almost three years since Ottawa launched the program, according to the CBSA website, which said the agency was appealing two cases in the Federal Court.
Iran is the state sponsor of terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis. The theocracy also targets critics in Canada, among them activists, journalists and former MP Irwin Cotler, whom police have warned of an assassination plot.
On Sept. 12, Global Affairs Canada warned that Iranian intelligence services “have increasingly attempted to kill, kidnap, and harass political opponents abroad, following a disturbing and unacceptable pattern of transnational repression.”
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“Other malign activities include operations to obtain and disclose the personal information of journalists and attacks designed to divide societies and intimidate Jewish communities.”
Since the federal government banned senior regime members from Canada on Nov. 14, 2022, border officials have identified 23 suspects living in the country and sent 21 of those cases to the IRB for hearings.
But so far, only three hearings have resulted in deportation orders, and only a single official has been sent back to Iran, although the CBSA has said that several others left voluntarily.
The figures are as of Sept. 4, 2025.
A civil engineer, Pirnoon served in Iran’s government for 22 years, working for the branch of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development responsible for road safety.
Photos on Iranian government and news websites show him at public events alongside politicians and representatives of Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei. He can also be seen giving speeches and interviews.
A CBSA report obtained by Global News said Pirnoon participated in political ceremonies and was tasked with inviting members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, to attend.
The IRGC is a designated terrorist group under Canadian law.
The report described Pirnoon as a “long-standing political asset. Throughout his career, he represented the Transport Ministry by way of media appearances, multiple meetings with the Supreme Leader’s representatives, as well as recommending policy and reporting to ministers and deputy ministers.”
As a director general, he also “interacted with commanders of the IRGC in a mutually advantageous relationship. Strong relationships between the IRGC and government ministries allow the regime to maintain political and social control.”
But Mokbel ruled that “meeting with representatives of the Supreme Leader does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that Mr. Pirnoon influenced government policies and decisions.”
Even if Pirnoon was a top-ranking member of the department in which he served, she said, “he does not appear to be clearly placed within the top-half of the public service of Iran.”
At a hearing on May 8, Pirnoon said he had no decision-making authority or influence and that working for a government did not mean supporting it.
Iranian-Canadians have raised concerns that members of the repressive regime they fled have been appearing in Canada, and told the Hogue commission on foreign interference they wanted better screening to weed them out.
“Certain attendees talked about the presence of Iranian government officials who were involved in criminal activities and human rights abuses in Canada,” the commission wrote.
Community members also told the inquiry that “Iranian Canadian community organizations have been infiltrated and taken over by persons acting on behalf of the Iranian regime.”
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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