Act of war. “Iranian embassy recruiting expats using embassy in Canada,” by Steven Edwards for Postmedia News, July 10 (thanks to David):
Absent diplomatic relations with the United States, Iran is using its embassy in Canada to recruit ethnic Iranians to “be of service” to Tehran “” causing U.S. terrorism experts to warn of a possible attack from north of the border.
The mobilization effort is taking place under the guise of the embassy”s cultural outreach program, and Iranian-Canadians opposed to the regime in Tehran say the Islamic republic’s intentions are revealed in an interview that Hamid Mohammadi, Iran’s cultural affairs counsellor attached to the Iranian embassy in Ottawa, gave in Farsi to an Iran-based website directed at Iranian expatriates in Canada.
Estimating the Iranian population in Canada to be 500,000, Mohammadi describes them as having “characteristics” that “set them apart” from other immigrants. He says recent Iranian immigrants have “decisively preserved strong attachments and bonds to their homeland,” while the “younger second generation” is already “working in influential government positions.”
Mohammadi urges all Iranian-Canadians to aspire to “occupy high-level key positions” and “resist being melted into the dominant Canadian culture.”
Most ominously, he maps out how his country intends to lure current and future Iranians in Canada into helping Iran: “By 2031, the total immigrant population of Canada will increase by 64%, and the number of Iranians will increase due to birthrate,” Mohammadi recounts for the website Iranians Residing Abroad (found at iranyad.ir).
“So, therefore, we need to put into effect very concentrated cultural programs in order to enhance and nurture the culture in this fast-growing population. It is obvious that this large Iranian population can only be of service to our beloved Iran through these programs and gatherings.”…