A former executive in Tehran’s state oil company has been barred from entering Canada on the grounds he was a senior member of the Iranian regime.
In a ruling handed down on Thursday, the Federal Court upheld the government’s decision to deny entry to Mohammadreza Mazloumiaboukheili.
The 64-year-old had applied for a visa to visit his son in Ontario, but it was refused on the grounds he was part of a regime engaged in terrorism and rights abuses.
The court ruling, which dismissed his appeal, marks a success for the Canadian government’s efforts to keep Iranian officials out of the country.
Almost three years ago, the government of then-prime minister Justin Trudeau banned top-ranking members of Iran’s abusive regime from Canada.
Since then, the Canada Border Services Agency has struggled to deport the roughly two dozen suspected officials found living in the country.
Only one has been removed to Iran, and the Immigration Refugee Board has declined to issue deportation orders in four more cases.
But immigration authorities have managed to prevent almost 200 suspected high-ranking Iranian regime members from entering Canada in the first place.
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Mazloumiaboukheili is the latest to have his visa rejected in court, with the judge dismissing his complaints about the handling of his case as “baseless.”
Although he has visited Canada twice before, that was before Ottawa brought in its policy targeting those serving in the top echelons of the Islamic Republic.
His latest application was met with a letter that thanked him for his “interest in coming to Canada” but advised him he was inadmissible due to his government role.
According to government records obtained by Global News, Mazloumiaboukheili was director of operations at the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company.
The oil company, where Mazloumiaboukheili worked for a decade, is owned by the Iranian government and reports to the deputy minister of Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum.
Oil is a key revenue source for Iran, which sponsors terror groups Hamas, Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis, and has provided drones for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The theocracy also targets critics in Canada, among them activists, journalists and former MP Irwin Cotler, whom police have warned of an assassination plot.
While Mazloumiaboukheili argued he was simply a company “middle manager,” the CBSA said he was only two ranks removed from the minister.
Mazloumiaboukheili wrote in an affidavit that he was surprised to receive a letter advising him his visa was cancelled, and had told his lawyers to appeal.
But the court found “no error” in the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada officer’s handling of his failed visa application.
“The officer’s decision is reasonable, both in its reasoning and regarding the evidence of the applicant’s role as an executive in a regime that engages or has engaged in terrorist activities and systematic or gross human rights violations,” the judge wrote.
“The applicant’s submissions that the officer made speculative assumptions or unjustified conclusions is meritless, as are the many other submissions the applicant made attacking the decision.”
Contacted by email, Mazloumiaboukheili did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.
Iranian-Canadians have long demanded better immigration security screening to prevent Iranian regime members from using Canada as a safe haven.
As of Sept. 4, 2025, 23 Iranians believed to have served in senior roles in the regime have been found living in Canada, according to government figures.
But only three deportation orders have been issued so far, and four cases have failed to win the approval of the Immigration and Refugee Board.
On Monday, Global News reported the IRB had declined to approve the deportation of Afshin Pirnoon, the former director of Iran’s roads department.
However, government figures also show that the IRCC has cancelled 198 visas under the sanctions.
As recently as Sept. 18, the agency sent a letter to an Iranian visa applicant advising him he may not be allowed in Canada as a former senior regime member.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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