{"id":674595,"date":"2026-05-17T01:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T01:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/674595\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T01:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T01:50:11","slug":"u-s-links-toronto-consulate-shooting-to-alleged-iranian-backed-commander-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/674595\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. links Toronto consulate shooting to alleged Iranian-backed commander – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Iraqi national charged in the United States with terrorism<\/a> offences has been linked by prosecutors to the March shooting outside the U.S. consulate<\/a> in downtown Toronto back in March.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

U.S. prosecutors allege Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi and others were behind the Toronto attack, as well as a second attack targeting a synagogue in Canada, while also coordinating nearly 20 attacks across Europe tied to an Iranian-backed militant network.<\/p>\n

The incident, which was deemed by Canadian authorities as a national security case, sparked heavy investigations by the RCMP.<\/p>\n

A release issued by the U.S. Department of Justice reveals that Al-Saadi appeared in a New York courtroom Friday after being charged with six terrorism-related offences tied to his alleged role as a senior member of Kata\u2019ib Hizballah and Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.<\/p>\n

According to a newly-unsealed U.S. criminal complaint, prosecutors allege Al-Saadi and others \u201cplanned, coordinated, and claimed responsibility\u201d for at least 18 terrorist attacks across Europe, along with \u201ctwo additional attacks in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

The complaint specifically references a March 10, 2026, shooting at the U.S. consulate in Toronto, where police said two suspects exited a white Honda CR-V, fired shots at the building and fled the scene.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Get<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGet daily National news<\/p>\n

Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.<\/p>\n

Toronto police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said shell casings and damage were found at the downtown building, though nobody was injured.<\/p>\n

In the U.S. filing, FBI investigators allege Al-Saadi discussed the Canadian attacks during recorded calls with a confidential source.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, Al-Saadi allegedly confirmed that \u201cour people\u201d were behind attacks in Canada targeting \u201cthe consulate and the Knesset,\u201d which investigators say referred to the Toronto consulate shooting and an attack on a synagogue.<\/p>\n

The filing also alleges Al-Saadi told the source he was \u201crunning multiple teams\u201d and sought help carrying out additional attacks in Canada and the United States.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Crime
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n

The complaint alleges Al-Saadi later explained how operatives carrying out attacks in North America could be paid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Europe, we have our guys; even in America, for example the other day, and in Canada we have our guys,\u201d Al-Saadi allegedly said during an April 1 recorded call cited in the filing.<\/p>\n

The complaint details attacks involving explosives, arson and stabbings in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom, including attacks targeting synagogues, Jewish schools, embassies and financial institutions<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

Outside court Friday, defence lawyer Andrew Dallek argued his client is being subjected to a \u201cpolitical prosecution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to relate to the court that it\u2019s very important for him that the court is aware that he\u2019s essentially being subjected to a political prosecution and that he\u2019s a prisoner of war and should be treated as such,\u201d Dallek told reporters.<\/p>\n

Dallek also questioned the circumstances surrounding Al-Saadi\u2019s arrest in Turkey and transfer into U.S. custody, saying it appeared his client had been brought to the United States \u201cwithout any kind of extradition proceeding overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Iraqi national charged in the United States with terrorism offences has been linked by prosecutors to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,2169,920,30499,3302,80130,2845,3275],"class_list":["post-674595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crime","tag-rcmp","tag-terrorism","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-shooting","tag-u-s-news","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}