Canada ... 'Engaging' With The Islamic Republic of Iran

"Engagement is not endorsement. Having an embassy, having consular services in a country does not mean we endorse the policies of that country."

"There are a series of countries with whom we have not seen eye to eye, to put it mildly, where we do not have representation. Iran, Venezuela [are] two examples. There are others."

"That puts us at a disadvantage, first and foremost, to helping Canadians that are in these countries."

"[In some consular cases Ottawa has leaned on countries that] aren't our natural allies [to help Canadians leave Iran]."

Prime Minister Mark Carney

 

"[The government is looking at alternative options to improve consular services for Canadians in countries like Iran]."

"We've taken no decisions, but we are looking at how best to serve Canadians, not only within this country, but internationally and that will be a process that occurs over the next number of months."

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand 

 

"Nothing about the regime has changed."

"The problem that Canada has with this regime goes much deeper [than geopolitics]."

"This is a regime responsible for flagrant human rights violations, and this is a regime with which normalizing relations may not be possible."

Masoud Zamani, lecturer in international relations, University of British Columbia

 

"[Reopening an embassy in Tehran could be part of a broader restoration of diplomatic relations, which could allow Iran to re-establish an official diplomatic presence in Canada]."

"What they want is a political footprint here in Canada through an embassy. I don’t know if we gain anything by allowing them to do that.  I don’t think that there is a real intention to do that."

"This issue of inconsistency in the positions adopted by the prime minister is itself quite a serious matter."

Kaveh Shahrooz, senior fellow, Macdonald-Laurier Institute

Protests erupted in Iran on 28 December 2025. People across the country, outraged at decades of repression, were demanding fundamental change and a political system that respects human rights and dignity. Iranian authorities have responded with an unprecedented deadly crackdown. Security forces have used unlawful force, firearms and other prohibited weapons, against protesters, which resulted in mass killings and serious injuries. Amnesty International

 

 Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper responded to the Islamic Republic's well-known abuse of human rights in Iran, and the regime's role as the foremost sponsor of terrorism in the Middle East by shutting down the Iranian Embassy and Consulate in Toronto, and withdrawing Canadian diplomats from the Canadian embassy in Tehran in 2012. Then-Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird declared the Iranian legation persona-non-grata in no uncertain terms. "Canada is committed to fighting global terrorism and to holding perpetrators of terrorism — and those who provide them support — accountable for their actions. Iran is among the world's worst violators of human rights. It shelters and materially supports terrorist groups."

 

When Mr. Harper left office and PM Justin Trudeau became prime minister, he mused about re-opening relations with Iran, despite that nothing had changed in the Islamic Republic's favour; it remained the stridently repressive government in Tehran, suppressing its public and enforcing strict totalitarian Sharia government, while its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps kept order along with its Basij branch, and its al-Quds arm continued training, funding and arming terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

 

Fast forward to the courage displayed by mostly young Iranians who spontaneously began to mount protests against the regime in December of 2025, demanding that it step down from office. Before long the protests spread from the capital to other areas of the country, with greater participation from the regime-hating population. The initial crowd-control protocols soon gave way to violence in the IRGC and Basij and national police responses, when live firearms were increasingly used to 'restore order'. In the end, an estimated 30,000 Iranian protesters were killed and many thousands arrested and tortured for their insubordination. 

 

Protests were also reported in several other provinces, including Kermanshah - Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Image

 

More latterly, with current prime minister Mark Carney musing publicly that Canada should consider reopening an embassy in the Islamic Republic for the sake of 'engagement' seems a stretch too far, even for him; restoring relations with the largest state sponsor of terrorism in a Canada that has become progressively less wedded to its traditional values of democracy, rule of law, public security, equal support for all its ethnic groups within its great ongoing experiment of multiculturalism and prepared to jettison its respect and support for the Jewish-Canadian community while sanctioning the viral antisemitism, anti-Israel fulminations of the now-more-populous Muslim-Canadian community.

 

The speedy, sudden growth of the latter demographic itself a product of Liberal-progressive permissiveness that has led to societal division, cultural-religious antagonism and public displays of illegal threats by one group against another which politicians and government institutions appear not to notice is fraying the mantle of multiculturalism held so dear by government that groups living in silos opt out of the normal social contract in the belief that cultural-traditional mores of racist invective are perfectly normal in a democratic society

 

Men stand amid rows of corpses in a morgue in Tehran following mass killings of protestors by security forces in this undated image obtained by Iran International

 

The Islamic Republic of Iran stands alone in financing terrorist groups whose oft-stated raison d'etre is the destruction of the State of Israel. This doesn't trouble the Liberal government of Canada, but understandably it does the Jews of Canada. All the more so that they are made victims of this new lashback of anti-Zionism/antisemitism that appears not to trouble mainstream Canada, much less academia and unions in Canada, all complicit with Palestinian student groups inciting hate against other Canadians.

 

Among other minorities, Canada has a substantial number of Iranian-Canadians within the population, many of whom arrived as new immigrants to Canada shortly after the 1979 Iranian revolution. To these Canadians of Iranian birth, Canada has become a haven, but it is also more latterly, a country which, although it has placed the IRGC on a terrorist list, permits members of the IRGC and their families to enter Canada at will, to live or vacation there, while supporting the Islamic Republic. Their presence in Canada threatens the well-being of anti-regime Iranian-Canadians. This government is not interested.

 

It has been revealed that more than 700 IRGC members ore operatives are in residence in Canada. How they were able to enter, and how they are entitled to be resident in Canada is the Liberal government's little mystery, not to be shared to the public.  Who might ever have imagined that Canada has anything in common with a country governed by human-rights-abusing, terrorism-enabling, peaceful population protesting slaughterers?  

 

 

"Prime Minister, there’s a fine line between engaging the Iranian regime to further our interests - which you already have the tools to do under Canada’s controlled engagement policy, versus opening a mission, conferring legitimacy on a regime that brutally murdered more than 30,000 people just months ago. And a regime Canada has rightly designated a supporter of terrorism."

"If the clerical military dictatorship wants more structured engagement, it should take demonstrable steps towards earning that. Like actually divesting the uranium it enriched for warheads it continues to produce, ending its terror network also operating in Canada, and ending the repression of its own people."

"Having any Iranian presence in Canada would be a national security threat. Period."

Shuv Majumdar, Conservative Member of Parliament for Calgary Heritage  

 

Iran's Bluff

"Wise individuals who know Iran, its people and its history never speak to this nation with the language of threats, because the Iranian nation is not one to surrender."

"Americans should know that any military involvement by the U.S. will undoubtedly result in irreparable damage to them."

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Israeli air-defense systems are activated to intercept Iranian missiles over Tel Aviv on June 16, 2025.  Photograph by Menahem Kahana / AFP / Getty

 

The Trump administration's calls for the Islamic Republic to surrender, even as it is being battered by Israeli airstrikes, urging the time is right to bring the crisis to a stop and prevent a greater number of human casualties has been summarily dismissed by the regime, with the country's theocratic leader warning military involvement by the Americans would cause "irreparable damage to them". 

 

For its part, Israel has lifted some of the restrictions it was forced to impose on daily life in the Jewish state, since the Israeli strikes on Iran were initiated almost a week earlier. That lifting of restrictions suggests that the missile and drone threats emanating from Iran's retaliatory attacks in response to the Israeli air barrage have eased up. 

 

A photo released by the Israeli air force, showing fighter jets taking part in Operation "Rising Lion," which targeted nuclear sites in Iran for strikes, on June 13, 2025. EYEPRESS NEWS VIA REUTERS CONNECT

 

U.S. President Donald Trump at the outset of the Israeli bombing campaign distanced himself from the attack that surprised Tehran on Friday; more recently, however, he has alluded to the potential of greater American involvement, that he wants something "much bigger" than a ceasefire. More military aircraft and warships of the American fleet have been sent to the region.

 

President Trump had demanded that Iran surrender without conditions, warning Khamenei that American intelligence knows where he has sequestered himself ostensibly in safety from Israeli bombing, but does not at present plan to assassinate him: "at least not for now". In response, Khamenei dismissed the "threatening and absurd statements". 

 

U.S. intervention, warned an Iranian diplomat would risk "all-out war". Thousands of American troops are based within range of Iran's missiles, in nearby countries. That implied threat carries its own risk to Iran since the US. counter-threatened a massive response to any such attack occurring. Another defiant Iranian official declared the country plans to continue enriching uranium for 'peaceful purposes',  ruling out demands that Iran abandon its disputed nuclear program.

 

The most recent Israeli strikes struck a facility making uranium centrifuges, and another producing missile components. Israeli military officials observed that their defences had intercepted ten missiles overnight aimed at Israel in retaliatory barrages, much diminished from the previous nights' attacks. Israel, according to the UN nuclear watchdog agency, struck two centrifuge production facilities in and around Tehran.

 

 

Several nuclear and military sites have been struck in Israel's air campaign, killing top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 585 people have been killed and over 1,300 wounded, according to an Iranian human rights group based in Washington. Some 400 missiles and hundreds of drones have been fired by Iran in retaliatory strikes, killing at least 24 people in Israel, and wounding hundreds more.

 

Schools remain closed in Israel, with many businesses remaining shut, but the ban on gatherings and office work for all but essential employees has been eased, signalling confidence on the part of the Israeli military that its attacks have served to limit  missile capabilities in Iran. While in Iran shops are closed, and people wait in gas lines, packing roads leading out of the capital, Tehran.

 

Israel launched its strikes on Iran to prevent them from building nuclear weapons when negotiations between the U.S. and Iran over a potential diplomatic resolution made no  progress over two months. Trump had set a 60-day window for the talks to succeed, after which Israel's campaign was initiated. Iran, while insisting its nuclear program is peaceful, is the only non-nuclear-armed state to enrich uranium up to 60 percent, a technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent. 

 

 

The Iranian Theocracy of Terror and Vengeance

"This disaster is a reminder of what it means to be Canadian and to belong to this cosmopolitan nation."
"There is a certain fluidity of identity when you open your doors to the whole world."
"Exile is a longing to belong. It's an emotional space that we confuse with a physical space."
"There is this very strong identity which is based on historical continuity. [Out of a diverse culture in Iran, Iranians treasure a deep attachment to] a rich mystical culture that refuses to be eclipsed despite the wars and invasions of the centuries."
Payam Akhavan, former UN war crimes prosecutor, professor of law, McGill University

Iran is known to have Russian-made Tor missile defence systems   AFP Getty Images

Canada has suddenly lost a large swath of citizens of Iranian heritage. In one fell swoop fate struck down the passenger plane they boarded at Tehran International Airport, bound for Kyiv in Ukraine. They hadn't yet reached cruising height, just several minutes into take-off from the airport when the Boeing 737-800 Ukrainian airliner suddenly burst into flames and plummeted to the ground, shattered, passengers and crew killed in the conflagration and crash.

Their connecting flight from Kyiv to Toronto arrived on schedule in Toronto later, where the 138 passengers of the total 176 that left Tehran, were to deplane, but there was no one to occupy those flight-reserved seats, it arrived void of those passengers, a silent rebuke to fate. A total of 63 Canadians perished in that first leg of their journey from Iran to Canada. Other Iranians had been scheduled to arrive in Canada for various reasons; Iranian students attending university in Canada, people on travel visas.

Delaram Dadashnejad, 26, was studying nutrition at Langara College. (Ksenia Ivanova)

The Canadians whose lives were forfeited when, as now being announced, the plane was hit by a sophisticated missile system, represented a full spectrum of any society; families, business professionals, academics, children, university students. Many of the Iranian students studying at Canadian universities would decide to stay in Canada, to become Canadian citizens; their long-range agenda will now never be realized. An 8-year-old, a 9-year-old and a one-year old child aboard will never see adulthood.

Iranian Canadians hailing from Western Canada to Central Canada are being mourned, their tragic deaths traumatizing their communities, stunning the nation. Toronto was home to such a large contingent of Iranian expatriates it was sometimes referred to within that community as "Tehranto".
Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran under the Shiite Ayatollahs is nothing like the social and cultural treasurehouse it once was. The militant leadership embracing terrorism as a mode of entry to commanding regional conquest has completely divorced itself from what the West views as civil behaviour.

 U of Toronto student Mojtaba Abbasnezhad, crash victim. (Mojtaba Abbasnezhad/Facebook)

Its relentless and violently injurious embarkation on undermining an already-fractious Sunny-majority mostly Arab Middle East to place Aryan Persia in the ascendancy, its viral anti-Israel pathology where threats against Israel's existence reveal its plans for Iran's future as the authority in the Middle East, its unstoppable search for and research into technological advances in nuclear arms and ballistic missiles of increasing sophistication, its commitment to spurning Western overtures and its ardent support of regional terrorist groups reveal it as a threat to peace, security and stability.

Internal dissent by disaffected Iranians has roiled the country time and again, and the regime's response has been swift, brutal and viciously deadly. The sanctions placed on Iran by a new administration in the United States determined to keep nuclear weaponry out of the regime's possession has disastrously weakened the Republic's economy. But not to the point where they will forego funding their proxy terrorist militias, nor fail to supply them with missiles, nor direct them to sectarian violence.

Samira Bashiri, husband Hamid Setareh Kokab, (Submitted by Sahar Nikoo)

All this is what most expatriate Iranians have sought to escape, to find refuge elsewhere to live aspirational lives of achievement and decency. All the while a yearning for the culture and heritage left behind propels many to return for brief periods, not the least cause of which is to keep in touch with extended family members left behind. That yearning led to the cessation of life itself for those whose misfortune was to be in their country of origin at this critical time.

When an irate theocratic regime whose focus is on the return of the Hidden Mahdi to bring the final destruction of all non-Muslims and the elevation of the faithful to Paradise, and doesn't mind hastening the process reflecting its corrosive scorn for humanity other than those it claims for its own, recklessly sacrifices the lives of innocents to emphasize its contempt for the West and the power it calls 'the Great Satan'.

Rescue teams gather at the scene after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in the Iranian capital Tehran early in the morning on Jan. 8. Rouhollah Vahdati/ISNA/AFP via Getty Images