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Public Safety Minister Vic Toews acknowledged Monday that the Iranian embassy is actively recruiting its nationals who are loyal to the regime.

"I don't comment on operational security issues but I can say that we are very much aware of what Iran is doing around the world and indeed in Canada," Toews said. "Certainly we do not approve of coercion of any Canadians - whether of Iranian descent or otherwise - by the Iranian embassy and any such coercion must be stopped."

Members of the Iranian-Canadian community rallied outside the embassy Monday and called for its closure.

"The recent activity of the embassy is especially troubling because they are spying and doing other things under the banner of cultural events," Shahram Golestaneh, an organizer of the rally, told QMI Agency.

"Iranian culture is rich, absolutely, but the embassy is using these events to propagate their own agenda."