Mohammadreza Pakatchian said he selected to review aerospace engineering at Carleton University since it was a “great opportunity” to further his skills and knowledge.
In its acceptance letter to the Iranian, Carleton University offered him a scholarship, while an MP’s office spoke with immigration officials about his student visa.
But Canada’s national security agencies aren’t so keen on the 41-year-old doctoral student.
They’ve flagged Pakatchian as a security threat, warning that he’s pursuing studies that can advance the Islamic Republic’s weapons programs.
Classified intelligence reports obtained by Global News allege that Pakatchian works for an Iranian company that has been sanctioned as a consequence of its role in weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
He can be related to an Iranian academic whose research focuses on ballistic missiles and other military technology, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service wrote.
Further, Pakatchian obtained his master’s degree at an Iranian university known for its work on uranium enrichment, nuclear implosion and missile guidance, the CSIS report said.
Upon completing his studies in Ottawa, CSIS added, Pakatchian intends to return to the identical sanctioned Iranian company that employs him to use what he has learned.
In response to the national security reports, Pakatchian, who said he began studies at Carleton online in 2023, “represents a danger to the safety of Canada.”
His research interests “have the potential of getting used for nefarious purposes,” a Canada Border Services Agency report added in its report on Pakatchian.
The “knowledge he’ll gain through his studies might be used to contribute to advancing Iran’s military and weapons systems,” it said.
On Feb. 17, immigration officials wrote that if Pakatchian continued pursuing his PhD at Carleton, “the expertise gained in Canada will likely be transferred and used to further Iran’s WMD programs.”
Pakatchian didn’t reply to emails, and his lawyer declined to comment, saying he didn’t have his client’s permission to talk.
The CBSA and CSIS wouldn’t comment on the case.
Nor did Carleton University reply to questions on why it accepted a doctoral student employed by a sanctioned Iranian company.
Mohammadreza Pakatchian is pursuing studies at Carleton University that Canadian official say will help Iran’s mass weapons programs.
Fedral Court
The U.S. and Israeli war that began in February showed that Iran’s military had amassed a major stockpile of missiles and drones.
While the 1000’s of missiles Iran launched throughout the conflict weren’t state-of-the-art, they were a step above those it had used previously.
“The performance of Iran’s missile, and drone programs for that matter, within the war of 2026, was higher than what we’ve seen previously,” said Prof. Thomas Juneau.
A Middle East expert on the University of Ottawa, Juneau said that a lot of Iran’s missiles failed upon launch during 2024 fighting with Israel.
“There’s a trend of improvement within the accuracy, but in addition within the reliability,” said Juneau, who teaches on the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.
Matthew Levitt, a fellow on the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, agreed that Iran’s drones and missiles proved to be “highly developed” throughout the recent war.
“Authorities have long been concerned that Iranian scientists studying abroad could also be attempting to fill gaps in knowledge or components for these programs,” he said.
Juneau said he was not acquainted with Pakatchian’s case, and it was possible the Iranian was pursuing studies in Canada for legitimate purposes.
“However it’s equally conceivable that he might be here for the very specific purposes of coming back to Iran to work on something directly or not directly related to the missile or drone program,” he said.
“We all know that Iran does that.”
Nonetheless, the deal U.S. President Donald Trump negotiated to finish the war makes no mention of missiles, and he said last week it might be “unfair” not to permit Iran to own the weapons.
Carleton offered scholarship
Carleton University, Ottawa, Oct. 25, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld.
When Pakatchian first applied to pursue his PhD at Carleton University in 2022, the dean not only said he was “pleased” to simply accept him but in addition offered him $8,000 in scholarships.
The cash was described as a solution to offset higher foreign student fees, based on Pakatchian’s immigration file, which was released to Global News.
The records also show that Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi’s office spoke with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada officials a few student visa for Pakatchian.
Carleton University is a component of Naqvi’s Ottawa Centre riding.
The MP’s staff said in an announcement to Global News that riding offices routinely helped constituents with immigration-related matters but were “not privy” to information from CSIS or CBSA.
Records show the MP’s office handled Pakatchian’s case in July 2023 — 4 months after national security officials had identified Pakatchian as a security threat.
Marked Secret/Canadian Eyes Only, the papers describe international efforts to forestall Iran from obtaining the technology and materials needed to develop mass weapons.
The CBSA wrote that in 2018, Trump unilaterally pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Motion put in place in 2015 to stop Iran’s nuclear program.
In response, Tehran resumed “proliferation activities, including amassing a stockpile of enriched uranium and installing more centrifuges,” the CBSA wrote.
Trump’s actions left sanctions as a remaining curb on Iran’s mass weapons, and among the many entities targeted was MAPNA, where Pakatchian had worked since 2009.
Canada had sanctioned MAPNA under its Special Economic Measures Act in 2016, citing the corporate for its “grave breach of international peace and security.”
Pakatchian is a MAPNA designer of axial compressors, which power jet engines and have each business and military uses, based on the CBSA.
When he applied for a student visa to attend Carleton, he named Mahmoud Mani, a professor at Amirkabir University in Tehran, as a reference.
Mani’s research is “unequivocally and overwhelmingly focused on military end-use applications,” reminiscent of missile aerodynamics, rocket engines and ballistic missiles, CSIS said.
At Carleton’s department of aerospace engineering, Pakatchian had chosen as his academic supervisor a professor who was conducting research involving fighter jets and drones, CSIS added.
“That is a fantastic opportunity for me due to Carleton mechanical engineering infrastructures and school members,” Pakatchian wrote in a letter to Canada’s immigration department.
“So once I come back to my home country, I’ll have the option to make use of my acquired knowledge on this area to enhance my current career through the use of recent cutting-edge methods,” he wrote in one other letter.
But in its report on Pakatchian, the CBSA wrote “intangible technology transfer which could advance Iranian military programs” are a security threat to Canada.
If Pakatchian “is allowed to pursue his studies in Canada, an intangible transfer of technology and knowledge could happen which could advance Iran’s military programs and capabilities,” the agency wrote.
Iranian missile that landed near the West Bank city of Jericho, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean).
Pakatchian’s immigration records indicate that he arrived in Canada in 2023, the identical 12 months he began his studies at Carleton and co-authored a paper with certainly one of the university’s professors.
His current whereabouts are unknown, but in May, he brought a case before the Federal Court searching for an order compelling the federal government to rule on his student visa.
He also wanted $10,000 to compensate him for the delays he claimed he faced awaiting his visa. The judge dismissed his application on June 9.
Michael Armstrong, an associate professor at Brock University’s Goodman School of Business, said many Canadian universities admitted Iranian graduate students.
Although he was unfamiliar with Tehran’s efforts to enhance its weapons, he said Iranian missiles had proven to be strategically successful.
“The recent war showed that Iran’s missiles were less accurate than it likely hoped, but adequate for its strategy,” the Royal Military College graduate said.
“In case your goal is a big area like a city, oil refinery, or air base, much less precision is required than for targeting a particular aircraft, constructing, or bridge,” he said.
Although many were intercepted, some hit populated areas, while the drones fired at Arab countries were more precise, Armstrong said.
Thwarting Iran’s missile program is especially meaningful for Canada, as a consequence of Tehran’s downing of a passenger plane stuffed with Canadians six years ago.
On Jan. 8, 2020, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps missile fired at Ukrainian Airlines Flight PS752 killed 85 Canadian residents and everlasting residents.
CSIS said it had been working with Canadian firms to stop Iran from acquiring the know-how it needed to develop more advanced weapons.
In its 2024 annual report, CSIS wrote that it “actively investigates attempted procurement of Canadian technology” to further Iran’s weapons programs.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca