Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a tightening of Canadian sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear industry Tuesday, just days before he is to host a G8 summit where heightened pressure on Iran will be a prominent international security theme.

The measures to implement a recent United Nations Security Council resolution will have little if any impact on Canada's economic relationship with Iran, comprising mostly Canadian grain exports.

Iranian-born human rights activist Nazanin Afshin-Jam and Liberal MP Irwin Cotler also released a report endorsed by about 100 scholars, activists and parliamentarians -- including three former Canadian prime ministers -- calling for broader, tougher sanctions to punish the Iranian regime for systemic and widespread human rights violations.

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"We want to see more in the way of suppressing and crippling this regime," Afshin-Jam said. "We would like to see more asset freezes and travel bans placed on Iranian officials."

However, analyst Anthony Seaboyer, a Queen's University expert on Iran's nuclear program, said Canada's compliance with UN sanctions against Iran's nuclear pursuits may be undermined by the federal government's plan to sign a civilian nuclear agreement next week with India -- a country that has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Iran is a signatory to the treaty, but is accused of breaching it by pursuing nuclear weapons production. Signatories are not allowed to develop weapons if they don't already have them and signatories are not supposed to support civilian nuclear programs in countries that have not signed the treaty.

"These sanctions are designed to restrict Iran's nuclear program and are in no way intended to punish the Iranian people," Harper said.

"Instead, these targeted measures are meant to send a strong signal to Iran that the international community expects Iran to meet its international nuclear obligations.

"They send a message to all states -- particularly those with nuclear aspirations -- that international standards cannot be flouted without consequences."

While the new measures do not go as far as the European Union or United States lawmakers who want even tougher action than the Security Council, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Canada "remains open" to further sanctions if Iran does not halt what he called the "frightening" prospect of developing nuclear weaponry.