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Experts say Mr. Mohammadi’s startlingly blunt interview has not only jeopardized Canada’s national security reputation abroad, but also sparked very real fears of espionage, terrorist recruitment and a possible attack on the U.S. from north of the border.

“The embassy is in and of itself a menace to public safety and our national interests; it should have been closed down yesterday,” said former CSIS intelligence operative David Harris, who is director of the international and terrorist intelligence program at Insignis Strategic Research Inc. “I think we’re at grave risk of being considered a problem-state rather than a serious ally to those countries to which we have been closest.”

When you become a Canadian citizen, virtually no one can touch you, and so these people can easily get to the United States

Rick Roth, Mr. Baird’s spokesperson, said “it is well known that Iran is a serious threat to global peace and security,” and Mr. Harris testified a year ago before a Senate committee that the regime had already established an “aggressive presence” in Ottawa by “variously relying on, and victimizing, its expatriates.”

Even well-intentioned Iranian newcomers are at risk of being recruited, Mr. Harris said: If Iranian officials and loyalists manage to get their hands on details about an immigrant’s family back in Iran, that information could be leveraged to coerce the newcomer into becoming a spy.

“We have to be on the alert for adversaries who seek to exploit fellow Canadians for their own advantage,” said Martin Rudner, the founding director of Carleton University’s Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies. “I could picture the Iranian embassy making a phone call to an individual who doesn’t necessarily want to help them and say something along the lines of, ‘You have relatives back in Iran, and those relatives could be in jeopardy if you don’t help us.’”