As someone who has worked on non-proliferation and sanctions issues for many years, let me underscore that he's exactly right and I think this is exactly where we're heading. If Ali Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards were smart, they would strike the so-called grand bargain with the P5+1. They would satisfy the nuclear demands of the international community, and all of the sanctions would go away.
The reason for that is that the majority of sanctions the United States has imposed are linked to Iran's nuclear program. Some sanctions are linked to Iran's terrorist activities, but very little has actually been linked to human rights. So he is completely right in assessing the risk, that a grand bargain would lead to this whole issue going away and our really ignoring Iran's human rights abuses. This is one of the major reasons why I think it's so important for a country like Canada to link sanctions and designations to human rights, not only on an individual level but also to actually go after the core state instruments of this repression, the IRGC and the Basij.
By designating the IRGC and the Basij for human rights abuses under SEMA, you will ensure that this will not go away, even if a nuclear deal is reached. I think that is one of the major policy recommendations that I and others have for the Canadian government: it is to actually underscore the human rights abuses at this scale and to this extent, and to have them be in the spotlight for years to come.
By naming and shaming the regime, by exposing its human rights abuses, by giving a face and a name and a story to the dissidents, we can perhaps address this issue even if the Iranian regime satisfies its nuclear obligations. By the way, I'm skeptical it will, but even if it does, we do not want its human rights abuses to disappear into the night.