Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says she’s deeply concerned about foreign interference by Iran’s regime and the possibility of Tehran activating terrorist sleeper cells on Canadian soil after U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Anand was asked about a Globe and Mail report quoting former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler, who warned Iran could use these cells to commit acts of violence in Canada against critics of Iran’s regime like himself.
“In addition to Mr. Cotler’s remarks, we are very concerned about foreign interference including the types that were highlighted by him,” Anand told Canadian media while in the Hague for the NATO summit.
“And we’re very concerned about the Iranian regime, generally speaking.”
Cotler, a human-rights advocate, revealed last year he was under police protection for his own safety. He said the RCMP told him it thwarted a plot by agents of Iran’s regime to assassinate him.
Hours after Tehran launched a missile attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar, President Donald Trump declared Iran and Israel had agreed to a ceasefire. CBC chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault breaks down Iran’s capabilities and what to watch for next.
In the U.S., FBI officials are on high alert for Iranian sleeper cells made up of terrorists or spies who often go undetected, living normal lives in Western countries until they are called on for service, CBS News reported.
Iran sent private messages to the U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of his Saturday strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities warning that they would respond with terrorist attacks in the U.S. carried out by sleeper cells in the country, NBC reported.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a national terrorism advisory on Sunday telling the public that if Iran’s leadership called for retaliation, the likelihood would increase that violent extremists could independently mobilize to commit violence.
Terrorism threat level unchanged: Analyst
Former Canadian national security analyst Stephanie Carvin says Canadians shouldn’t panic because the terrorism threat level hasn’t changed in Canada and Iran has signalled it wants to de-escalate.
“I’m not sure what purpose would be served at this time by conducting a violent extremist attack or some kind of sabotage campaign, if in fact, they are looking for some kind of cessation of hostilities,” said Carvin, who is an associate professor at Carleton University.
But Carvin says there is concern in the intelligence community that threat actors affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) could be living in Canada with some kind of cover story while working on behalf of the Iranian government — or with the ability to do so.
She warns these threat actors often aren’t “sleeping,” because even if they’re not involved in an active plot, they’re still often involved in threat-related activity. Those activities include money transfers, espionage, transnational repression, terrorist activity or sabotage campaigns against targets in Canada, she said.
“The idea that they’re just somehow dormant I think is very wrong,” she said. “These individuals are trained to engage in numerous activities.”
‘Unprecedented’ call
When asked what action the government is taking to protect Canadians from any potential Iranian terrorism, Anand said Canada listed the IRGC as a terrorist organization last year and cut diplomatic ties over a decade ago.
“We will continue to take any possibility of foreign interference extremely seriously, and that is underscored by the work that we will advocate for here at NATO, as well as the work that we were doing at the G7,” Anand said.
Anand also said she had an “unprecedented call” with her Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi on Saturday before the U.S. airstrikes. Her office believes it’s the first call of its kind since François-Philippe Champagne did so years ago. He held the foreign affairs portfolio until January 2021.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she spoke with her Iranian counterpart to help ensure Canadians’ safety in Iran, push for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict with Israel and advocate for the victims of flight PS752. Canada has not had diplomatic relations with Iran since 2012.
On that call, Anand said she urged Iran to allow Canadians to leave the country safely, de-escalate the conflict with Israel and return to the negotiating table. She also reaffirmed that Canada is still seeking accountability for Iran’s downing of Flight PS752 that killed 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents in 2020, she said.
Growing concerns about Iran’s regime in Canada
Lawyer Kaveh Shahrooz says his concern over Iranian sleeper cells in Canada is “certainly heightened now” and he is “more alert than ever.”
He’s also a human rights activist who is critical of Iran’s regime and says he’s reported threats and being monitored to Canadian authorities before.
He’s concerned Iran’s regime could try to send a message to its critics abroad including in Canada to let them “know that it remains in charge.”
“Iran’s regime has been humiliated internationally,” he said. “It’s been defeated militarily. And so I think it’s looking for different ways of asserting its own power and dominance to some extent against the West.”
U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally announced an unexpected ceasefire between Israel and Iran on Monday, hours after Tehran fired missiles at an American military base in Qatar. But the future of any deal is uncertain with Iran saying Israel must comply.
Vancouver human rights lawyer Mojdeh Shahriari is the co-founder of StopIRGC, a grassroots group that tracks suspected Iranian regime members in Canada. She says they have passed on more than 90 names to national security agencies to investigate since 2022.
She fears that more senior Iranian officials will flee Iran because of the conflict with Israel and seek safe haven in Canada. She says there are already hundreds of regime affiliates and IRGC members she believes have settled in Canada. She calls this a “slow-moving monster” that’s only going to speed up.
“My concern is as the regime weakens, they are going to use Canada as their future home more and more,” she said. “This has already happened. It’s going to accelerate.”
3 Iranian officials issued deportation letters
After years of pressure to act, in 2022 the federal government designated the Islamic Republic of Iran as a regime that engaged in terrorism and systemic and gross human rights violations under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. That designation made some Iranian regime members inadmissible to Canada.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) says it has cancelled the visas of more than 130 suspected senior Iranian regime members trying to come to Canada since the 2022 designation.
CSIS is among a group of international spy agencies investigating ‘credible’ death threats originating from Iran against people abroad — including in Canada.
To date, out of the 20 people CBSA reported inadmissible to Canada for being a senior official in the Iranian regime, only one has been removed from the country. Three people in total have been issued deportation letters after Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada rulings.
Majid Iranmanesh was one of the senior Iranian officials given a deportation order last year. A transcript of the Immigration and Refugee Board’s hearing said Iranmanesh was a director-general in the vice-presidency of information and technology, just a few levels away from Iran’s president. The board concluded he fell within the top 50 per cent of the hierarchy of the Iranian regime, the transcript said.
The board also expelled Seyed Salman Samani, Iran’s former deputy interior minister, from Canada, the Immigration Refugee Board says.
Afshin Pirnoon, a former director general in Iran’s roads ministry, is also facing an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing after the CBSA caught him living in Canada and claimed he was a senior official with Iran’s regime.
Six other cases are ongoing. CBSA would not provide the identity of the individuals citing privacy concerns.
