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Iran’s intelligence services may be behind recent attacks in Canada, according to a top-secret government report obtained by Global News.
The threat assessment said it was a “realistic possibility” that Iran had used local criminal networks to target Canada’s Jewish community.
The report said “actors who may be directed by Iranian Intelligence Services” were also suspected of threats to the Israeli and Iranian communities and interests.
The intelligence brief on violence in Canada linked to the Iran war was released to Global News under the Access to Information Act.
“The primary violent extremist threat in Canada with a nexus to the conflict remains a self-directed radicalized lone actor or small group unconnected to Iran,” it said.
“However, it is a realistic possibility that Iran is enabling criminal proxy actors to carry out attacks in Europe against Jewish community targets and that they have directed or enabled similar acts of criminal violence in Canada since the beginning of the conflict.”
The report by the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre (ITAC), which analyses threats to Canada’s national security, was dated April 2.
The document, as well as a second one on the same theme, was partly redacted and did not publicly identify which acts of violence in Canada it was referring to.
But it said a new organization called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya had claimed responsibility for attacks in Europe, including an arson at a London synagogue.
U.S. prosecutors have alleged that Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya is a front for Kata’ib Hizballah, a pro-Iran Shia militia based in Iraq.
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In May, the U.S. arrested a Kata’ib Hizballah member named Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi for allegedly directing attacks in Europe.
According to the allegations, Al-Saadi boasted that he was behind two attacks in Toronto — shootings at a synagogue and the U.S. consulate.
Toronto police have arrested several gunmen who were allegedly part of a crime network that was hired to open fire on the American consulate.
A Toronto officer, Const. Marc Pinizzotto, was shot dead during the investigation, which is examining more than two dozen shootings across the city.
The gunmen were hired through encrypted messaging applications and were required to record video of the incidents in order to receive payment, police said.
“What we are dealing with in this case and in other unrelated incidents, including shootings at synagogues and Jewish schools, is a recurring and similar modus operandi — criminals for hire,” Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said.
Police said they were investigating who was behind the shootings. The Secretary of State for Combatting Crime, Ruby Sahota, has blamed an unnamed “foreign entity.”
Canadian authorities have not publicly linked the case to Iran. But two intelligence reports released to Global News point to the possible role of Iranian intelligence.
“Since ITAC’s last update, alleged threats and suspicious activities directed at targets linked to Israeli, Iranian and Jewish community-linked individuals and interests in Canada continue, including from actors who may be directed by Iranian Intelligence Service,” it said.
Iran has a long history of attacking opponents in Western countries, and allegedly plotted to assassinate critics in Canada, including former Justice Minister Irwin Cotler.
On June 10, Canada joined its allies in condemning “lethal plotting” against Iranian dissidents and Jewish community members by Iran.
The joint statement blamed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence Organization, the Quds Force, and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
“The relationship between Iranian security services and international and local criminal groups is long standing,” the statement said.
It also condemned attacks across Europe that were claimed by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya “and supported by their intermediaries.”
Last week, Foreign Minister Anita Anand said Canada had no plans to restore diplomatic relations with Iran that Ottawa severed in 2012.
Her comments followed remarks by Prime Minister Mark Carney that not having embassies in Iran and Venezuela put Canada “at a disadvantage.”
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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