The report shows how Canadian intelligence officials suspect the Iranian regime has dodged international sanctions.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have soared since U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from the Iran nuclear deal struck by his predecessor and began reimposing sanctions that had been eased under the accord.

The new sanctions fit into U.S. President Donald Trump's effort to limit Iran's regional influence and come a week after U.S.-brokered deals for the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to normalize ties with Israel.

The United States faces defeat in its move to reimpose U.N. sanctions on Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised speech on Sunday, as Washington declared all U.N. sanctions on Iran had been restored.

Thirteen of the 15 U.N. Security Council members, including long-time U.S. allies, say Washington's move is void and diplomats say few countries are likely to reimpose the measures however.

A senior U.S. official told The Associated Press that no military force was used in the seizures and that the ships weren't physically confiscated.

The ruling centres on whether what Meng is accused of in the United States would be a crime in Canada.

"Iran will never negotiate under pressure ... We will never yield to America's pressure and we will not negotiate from a position of weakness," Rouhani said in a televised news conference.

U.S. prosecutors say a Canadian man lied in a major Iran government money laundering and sanctions evasion case.

The Islamic Republic has been reeling from one crisis to another. Here's a closer look.