Canada’s Foreign Affairs department issued a warning Tuesday to Iranian diplomats who are allegedly using their Ottawa embassy to recruit Iranian-Canadians to serve the Islamic Republic’s interests.

“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.”