Canada joined 28 other countries Monday in condemning Iran’s campaign of assassination plots, arson and attacks against Jewish communities and political opponents abroad, nearly two years after Canadian authorities foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate former justice minister Irwin Cotler. The October 12 statement, issued by Global Affairs Canada, backed Britain’s finding of Iranian involvement in a suspected plot against RAF Fairford and warned that those carrying out attacks for Tehran would be investigated and prosecuted.
For Montreal’s Jewish community, the threat has a familiar name. The plot against Cotler, the former Mount Royal MP and longtime human rights lawyer, became public in November 2024, with his organization, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, confirming the reporting. Police had warned him on October 26 that Iranian agents could attempt to kill him within 48 hours. Cotler described living under armed protection around the clock, after years of representing Iranian political prisoners and campaigning internationally to have the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps designated a terrorist organization.
The House of Commons unanimously condemned the threats against Cotler on November 18, 2024, recognizing his work defending human rights and fighting antisemitism. Its resolution condemned death threats orchestrated by agents of a foreign regime against a man who had served as Canada’s justice minister and attorney general from 2003 to 2006.
Monday’s declaration identifies Jewish communities, Iranian journalists and American interests among the targets of a recent European attack campaign claimed by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, known as HAYI. The signatories condemn Iran’s use of proxies to threaten and attack people on their territory and commit to disrupting those operations and holding those responsible accountable. Canada, the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Australia are among the countries that signed.
The immediate trigger was the September 27 incident at RAF Fairford, a British base used by American bombers for strikes against Iran. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham told Parliament that the suspected plot was highly likely coordinated in Iran and almost certainly directed by the IRGC. Seven men were arrested during the investigation and subsequently released on bail without charges. Police found petrol in seized vans but no viable explosive, while the threat prompted the withdrawal of American bombers from the base.
Britain summoned Iran’s ambassador Monday and imposed sanctions on Ruhollah Bazghandi, identified as the IRGC’s head of counterespionage operations, and Shahram Ali Reza Tamarzadeh Jakki, a facilitator for the Zindashti criminal network. Both face asset freezes, travel bans and restrictions on serving as company directors. British authorities say the network has been involved in plots against Iranian dissidents.
That network also has a Canadian connection. American prosecutors charged Canadians Damion Patrick John Ryan and Adam Richard Pearson in January 2024, alongside Iranian Naji Sharifi Zindashti, over a plot to murder two people living in Maryland. Prosecutors said the men negotiated a US$350,000 payment, plus expenses, to carry out the killings. The intended victims had fled Iran, and the U.S. Justice Department credited both CSIS and the RCMP with assisting the investigation.
The Montreal Jewish News reported last week on separate British cases involving surveillance of Jewish institutions and preparations for an attack against Manchester’s Jewish community. Those proceedings followed Canadian intelligence warnings about Iranian organizations using local criminals to threaten Jewish communities and Israeli and American interests. MJN’s earlier coverage of the extremist threat facing Montreal’s Jewish community examined the federal assessment behind those warnings.
American prosecutors have also charged Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, a dual Iranian and Iraqi national, with helping direct attacks for the IRGC and Kata’ib Hizballah. They identify HAYI as a front for established terrorist organizations and allege that Al-Saadi helped coordinate attacks against Jewish targets in Europe. The initial Justice Department announcement also alleged that he and his associates were involved in two attacks in Canada.
Canada had already joined a June 10 declaration condemning overseas plots by the IRGC’s Intelligence Organisation, the Quds Force and Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security. That statement specifically identified Jewish communities and Iranian dissidents as targets and condemned Iranian security services’ use of criminal groups. Ottawa listed the entire IRGC as a terrorist entity in June 2024, having listed its Quds Force in 2012.
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