June 24,2025
RED FM News Desk
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand has expressed deep concern about Iran’s foreign interference and the potential activation of sleeper cells in Canada, following U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
Anand was responding to a Globe and Mail report citing former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler, who warned that Iran might deploy sleeper cells to carry out attacks in Canada, particularly targeting critics of the Iranian regime like himself. Cotler, a prominent human rights advocate, revealed last year that he was under police protection after the RCMP disrupted an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate him.
In the United States, FBI officials are also on high alert amid concerns that Iranian sleeper cells—terrorists or spies living covertly in the West—could be activated to retaliate. According to CBS News, these individuals often live quietly in their host countries until called upon.
NBC News reported that ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent strikes on Iranian nuclear targets, Iran sent private warnings that any attack would be met with terrorist reprisals on American soil via sleeper cells. In response, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a terrorism advisory, warning that any call for retaliation by Iran’s leadership could trigger violent extremist acts.
Asked about Canada’s response, Anand noted that Canada had designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization last year and severed diplomatic relations over a decade ago. She also mentioned having an “unprecedented” phone conversation with her Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, on the day of the U.S. airstrikes—the first such call since François-Philippe Champagne’s tenure as foreign minister.
During the call, Anand urged Iran to ensure the safe exit of Canadian citizens from the country, de-escalate tensions with Israel, and return to diplomatic negotiations. She also reiterated Canada’s demand for accountability in the downing of Flight PS752 in 2020, which killed 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.
Loading ...
