An estimated 1,000 former members of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may be embedded across Canada — and pose an urgent security threat to the US, experts told The Post.
Canada’s liberal government isn’t doing nearly enough to address the problem, Michelle Rempel Garner, a member of the opposition and “shadow minister” for immigration, told The Post.
“It’s a big problem,” he said. “That’s not just a concern for our country, but a concern for our security partners and our allies.”
Figures with ties to the government often exploit Canada’s lax immigration policies to gain entry, making them nearly impossible to deport, Garner said.
“They continue to ask for asylum and find places to stay for deportation; the system has to change,” she said.
“The crown jewel of the Iranian regime is the US, not Canada. The Iranian regime sees the US as the Great Satan and Israel as the Little Satan,” said Joe Adam George, research director for the Philadelphia-based think tank Middle East Forum.
The Islamic Republic is known to have “sleeper cells” around the world, and may have sent an “operational trigger” to activate after the start of the war with the US and Israel, according to an encrypted message received by the US.
The American embassy in Toronto was attacked on March 10 when two gunmen opened fire on the heavily fenced compound. No injuries have been reported, and it is currently unknown if the suspects were linked to the Islamic State.
Professor of the Royal Military College and Queen’s University Christian Leuprecht said that Canada will have to bear the responsibility if one of the immigrants commits an act of terrorism in the US.
“Canada presents itself as a beacon of human rights but we allow people to enter the country with blood on their hands,” he said.
The Canadian government has identified 32 high-ranking Iranian officials living in their country and has put them on notice for deportation, according to the Canadian Border Services Agency.
Other senior members of Iran’s regime in the Great White North are reported to include:
- The Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade in Iran, Abbas Omidi, reports Global News. Omidi, 55, served as a senior leader in Tehran for more than 27 years and came to Canada in 2022. He is currently facing deportation proceedings.
- The former Director-General of Iran’s Ministry of Roads, Afshin Pirnoon, has been allowed to remain in the country after Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board blocked a border security agency’s request to deport him in 2025, saying he had not had “significant influence” on Iran’s authoritarian government.
- Seyed Salman Samani, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior in Iran. He was given deportation orders in March 2024, but has not yet left the country, sources said.
- Majid Iranmanesh, director general of Iran’s Vice President for Science and Technology. He was issued deportation orders in February 2024 but is still in the country, sources said.
- Sina Ardeshir Larijani, the nephew of Iran’s interim leader Ali Larijani, reportedly works as a director of Real Estate Finance at the Royal Bank of Canada in Vancouver, according to Regime Out, an Iranian opposition group.
Canada has banned Iranian officials from entering the country until 2022 after Mahsa Amini was killed in Iran after she was arrested for allegedly violating a strict hijab ban. The ban applied to government officials from 2019 onwards.
In 2024, the ban was extended to apply to officials who had served in government since June 22, 2003, the day Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi was arrested in Tehran. Kazemi was later tortured and died a few weeks later.
Only one Iranian official, whose name has not been reported, has been expelled from the country so far, the Toronto Star reported.
When asked by The Post newspaper, the CBSA did not deny that Sina Ardeshir Larijani is the nephew of Ali Larijani and is in this country, but said that the information is confidential.
“A person’s border and immigration information is considered confidential and protected by the Privacy Act,” said a CBSA representative.
Canada’s Minister of Public Security, Gary Anandasangaree, said last week that the number of IRGC members in the country “is not confirmed.”
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has canceled 239 visas for Iranian officials since March 5, according to a statement.
