Canadian authorities have arrested two men accused of planning to carry out an al Qaeda-supported attack against a passenger train traveling between Canada and the United States , a U.S. congressman told CNN on Monday . `` As I understand it , it was a train going from Canada to the U.S. , '' Rep. Peter King , R-New York , chairman of the counterterrorism and intelligence subcommittee , said . The news follows an announcement earlier in the day by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that they had arrested Chiheb Esseghaier , 30 , and Raed Jaser , 35 . The two men are charged with `` receiving support from al Qaeda elements in Iran '' to carry out an attack and conspiring to murder people on a VIA railway train in the greater Toronto area , Assistant Police Commissioner James Malizia said . `` When I speak about supported , I mean direction and guidance , '' he said . Despite the allegation of links to al Qaeda in Iran , there was no evidence to suggest the planned attacks were state-sponsored , Malizia said . Iran vehemently denied the allegations that al Qaeda was operating inside its borders . `` Iran 's position against this group is very clear and well known , '' according to a statement released by Iran 's mission to the United Nations . `` Al Qaeda has no possibility to do any activity inside Iran or conduct any operation abroad from Iran 's territory , and we reject strongly and categorically any connection to this story . '' Neither the Canadian authorities nor King identified the exact route of the targeted train . Essenghaier , of Montreal , and Jaser , of Toronto , will make their first court appearance on Tuesday , police said . Authorities said the suspects were not Canadian citizens , but declined to identify their nationality or how long they had been in Canada . Essenghaier has been a doctoral student at the National Institute of Scientific Research at the University of Quebec since 2010 , Julie Martineau , the university spokeswoman , said . He was conducting research on nanosensors , which are primarily used for medical treatments or to build other nanoproducts , such as computer chips , she said . `` I can not comment on any behavior issues . He seemed like a normal student , '' Martineau said . There was no link between the Canadian investigation and the Boston Marathon bomb attack , an official with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told CNN on condition of anonymity . Canadian authorities were tight-lipped about the planned time frame of the alleged attack except to say it was in the planning stage and not imminent . `` We are alleging these two individuals took steps and conducted activities to conduct a terrorist attack , '' Jennifer Strachan of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told reporters . `` They watched trains and railways in the greater Toronto area . '' The alleged attack included a plan to derail a passenger train , she said . The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation quoted `` highly placed sources '' as saying the suspects were under surveillance for more than a year . The CBC reported that the investigation was `` part of a cross-border operation involving Canadian law enforcement agencies , the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security . '' Al Qaeda has long studied the possibility of attacks on railroad systems -- seeing them as cheap , relatively easy to carry out and with potentially devastating results . The organization and its sympathizers have plotted attacks on railway systems in Spain and Germany . More than 200 people were killed and 1,700 injured in an attack that targeted several commuter trains in Madrid in March 2004 . In a document seized during the raid in Pakistan that left Osama bin Laden dead was evidence of an al Qaeda discussion to target rail lines in the United States , a law enforcement official told CNN in late 2011 . According to the document , al Qaeda members discussed as early as 2010 a plan to derail trains in the United States by placing obstructions on tracks over bridges and in valleys . The plan , according to the document , was to be executed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks , though no specific rail system was identified , the official said . News of the arrests Monday came the same day Canada 's parliament debated an anti-terrorism bill . Traditionally , al Qaeda 's membership is seen as Sunni-dominated and not Shiite . As a result , al Qaeda and Iran have not been viewed as allies . `` We have very little intelligence on al Qaeda in Iran , '' King said . What is known is that bin Laden 's son-in-law , Sulaiman Abu Ghaith , fled Afghanistan for Iran after the fall of the Taliban in 2001 . According to U.S. documents and officials , in addition to Abu Ghaith , other members of bin Laden 's inner circle ended up in Iran , including the formidable military commander of al Qaeda , Saif al-Adel , and Saad bin Laden , one of the al Qaeda leader 's older sons who has played some kind of leadership role in the group . Saad bin Laden also helped one of his father 's wives and several of his father 's children to move from Pakistan to Iran , officials said .
One of the suspects was a doctoral student at the University of Quebec . Iran denies allegations that al Qaeda is operating inside its borders . Rep. Peter King tells CNN the targeted train was `` going from Canada to the U.S. '' The suspects `` were receiving support from al Qaeda elements in Iran , '' police say .