Canada reimposes sanctions on 11 Iranian entities for contributing to nuclear activities

By Rishabh Jaiswal Nov 10 (Reuters) - Canada reimposed sanctions on 11 Iranian entities on Tuesday for their contribution to Iran's nuclear activities and ballistic missile program, Foreign Minister Anita Anand said. Anand announced the measures at a meeting of Group of Seven foreign ministers in Paris, saying they were intended to restrict Iran's access to funding and sensitive technology linked to its nuclear and missile programs. "Canada’s position is unequivocal: Iran must never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon," a foreign ministry statement quoted Anand as saying.

The measures were imposed on 11 entities that contributed to "the Iranian regime’s proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities and ballistic missile program or to the financing of its malign activities," the statement said. Canada de-listed the entities in 2016 after a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. But Ottawa said Tehran had repeatedly failed to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, over its nuclear activities and had not complied with the provisions of earlier UN Security Council resolutions.

The United States, its European allies and Israel accuse Tehran of using its nuclear program to conceal efforts to try to develop the capability to produce weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. The US has been at war with Iran since joint US-Israeli airstrikes against the Islamic Republic on February 28. An Iranian official told Reuters last week that Tehran had submitted a proposal on nuclear issues to the US via Qatar, but that discussions would depend on Washington first meeting a set of Iranian demands.

The demands include sanctions relief, access to frozen assets and war reparations, the official said.Washington says nuclear issues must feature in initial talks. The 11 entities targeted by Canada include Iran's Nuclear Fuel Production and Procurement Company, the Nuclear Reactors Fuel Company, the National Iranian Oil Company and the National Iranian Tanker Company. The other sanctioned entities include Kala Naft, the Naftiran Intertrade Company, Bank Mellat, Bank Melli, the Iran Bank of Industry and Mine, the Export Development Bank of Iran and the Iran Insurance Company.

Iran's security chief,Mohsen Rezaei, said in October that Tehran was debating whether to lift itslongstanding ban on nuclear weapons if hostilities resume, although he said no such decision had been taken yet. (Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Timothy Heritage)