Why a spate of gun-for-hire shootings in Toronto were likely paid for by Iran

A CBC News investigation has pinpointed a dozen politically-motivated gun-for-hire shootings in Toronto that appear to have been financed by the Iranian government.

The attacks targeted synagogues, a school and businesses in the Greater Toronto Area, as well as the U.S. Consulate in the city's downtown. 

With many of the shootings coming in the hours and days after the United States and Israel began bombing Iran on Feb. 28 and assassinated the country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

No one was injured in the Toronto shootings, all of which bore the hallmarks of gun-for-hire incidents: early morning attacks where suspects arrived via stolen cars and emptied handguns into building entranceways, while they — or their accomplices — filmed the acts on a phone. 

WATCH | The full CBC News investigation into gun-for-hire crimes in Toronto:

Toronto Police, the RCMP and CSIS have been investigating whether a foreign power instigated the politically-motivated attacks. But while some of the alleged trigger men have been arrested and charged, it has been harder to determine just who was paying them.

The gun-for-hire model, where shootings are arranged via encrypted apps and intermediaries, provides several layers of separation between the client and the criminal.

"We have heard information that there may be foreign actors that are involved. We are investigating every angle," said Chief Superintendent Joe Matthews, who is overseeing the Toronto Police Service investigation.

"At this point, I'm not willing to confirm or deny that piece of it, but what I will say is that we don't think there's a very direct connection between the financier and the perpetrator on the street."

CBC News spent weeks researching a slew of shootings in Toronto, obtaining court files where arrests have been made, and building profiles of the accused. Most of the suspects face charges for multiple attacks. Many are young — ranging in age from 15 to their early 20s. 

• Organized crime is using encrypted messaging apps to enlist youth. This spells trouble for police

• 2 people, including 15-year-old, facing multiple charges after gunshot fired at U.S. consulate in Toronto

• Teen sentenced for 1st-degree murder in death of tow truck driver at Scarborough gas station

What emerged was a pattern — shootings concentrated in the same corners of the city, over the same night — directed at both political and non-political targets. In several incidents, synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses were hit shortly before, or after, attacks on nearby business and residential addresses associated with waste management giant, Green For Life (GFL). 

Toronto Police say ballistic tests confirm that link. 

“We're seeing firearms that are being used in multiple shootings that aren't just geopolitical targeted, they are crossing over with GFL,” Matthews told CBC News.

All of which points to the same people — hired guns — having carried out both types of attacks. 

In recent years, the Iranian government and its intelligence service have been linked to plots and attacks in Germany, the Netherlands, the U.K., Australia and the United States.

Last May, the FBI arrested Mohammad Baqer al-Saadi, whom they claim is a senior member of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), a militia group controlled by Iran's Revolutionary Guard. He now faces six terrorism related charges.

The indictment filed in New York State, alleges he helped plan and co-ordinate at least 18 attacks in Europe, as well as two more in Canada — the March 2026 shooting at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto and an assault on an unnamed synagogue.

Police cordoned off the street in front of the U.S. Consulate in Toronto on July 27. They said a firearm was discharged at the building in the early morning hours. (Paul Smith/CBC)

In June, Canada issued a joint statement with 20 other nations, condemning Iran's "lethal plotting and other malign actions" in Europe, North America and Australia.

"The relationship between Iranian security services and international and local criminal groups is long standing," the statement read. "Their use of these groups is deplorable."

Still, allegations of Iranian subterfuge continue, most recently in the U.K., following a foiled plot to attack a Royal Air Force base in England.

• U.K. counter-terror police arrest British-Iranian suspect over Fairford air base investigation

• Australia accuses Iran of being behind two antisemitic attacks, orders ambassador to leave

The Iranian-linked attacks follow the same blueprint that Russia has been using to sow havoc in Europe since its invasion of Ukraine, said Keir Giles, a security analyst at Chatham House, an independent policy institute in London. 

"Certainly the Russian use of this kind of approach, they pushed the boundaries further and faster," said Giles. "But inevitably, once a technique or a method of achieving these nefarious aims has been demonstrated, other people will latch on."

Gun-for-hire attacks, or Violence as a Service (VAAS) as it is also known, have been supercharged by the internet and the spread of encrypted communication apps, Giles said. 

"It's always been the case that you could recruit willing, or unwilling, or even unknowing dupes to carry out your attacks for you," he said. "But it's become vastly easier to spread your network, to actually reach and recruit them at really, very little cost."

CBC News reached out to Iran’s Foreign Ministry to ask about Tehran's alleged involvement in the Toronto attacks, but did not receive a response. The Iranian government has dismissed past claims that it has sponsored violence around the world.

Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto (BAYT), was one of the synagogues that was attacked in early March 2026. Its front doors and windows peppered with gunfire late on a Friday night.

A bullet hole in a glass door at Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto (BAYT) synagogue following a March 2026 gun-for-hire attack. (Submitted by BAYT)

Rabbi Daniel Korobkin says there was anger and frustration following the shooting, but that the congregation refuses to be intimidated.

"We recognize that there are many players that are making Israel and Jews as the pariah of the story. We're used to it," Korobkin said. "It's not going to deter us from being Jews. It's not going to deter us from coming to synagogue."

Korobkin is aware that the attack on his synagogue may have been ordered and paid for by someone living thousands of miles away. But to him, it hardly matters. 

"I don't think it really makes a difference whether the person who hates us is pulling the trigger, or paying a person to pull the trigger," he said. "The end result is the same and we just want it to stop and we need to figure out how we can control it in the future."

Jonathon Gatehouse can be contacted via email at jonathon.gatehouse@cbc.ca, or reached via the CBC's digitally encrypted Securedrop system at https://www.cbc.ca/securedrop/