Date: March 3, 2026

Dear Prime Minister Carney,

The Iranian Canadian Congress writes you to condemn in the strongest terms the continued military aggressions and war crimes committed by the U.S. and Israel against Iran since February 28, 2026, and calls on your government to retract your statement in support of this aggression and instead support renewed diplomacy to avoid further bloodshed.

These unprovoked attacks, similar to the previous round of U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran in June 2025, occurred in the middle of diplomatic negotiations between Iran and the U.S., targeting not only military installations, but also civilian structures across Iran, including schools, hospitals, residential buildings, sports centres, and the Iranian national broadcasting headquarters. These war crimes parallel those committed against Iran in June 2025 and those committed against the people of Palestine in the Gaza Strip since 2023.

In a horrific outcome of the US-Israeli aggression, the Shajareh Tayebbeh girls’ elementary school in Minab, southern Iran, was attacked. The strike, which occurred on the morning of February 28th, the beginning of the regular work week in Iran, resulted in the killing of at least 165 and injuring of at least 96 elementary schoolgirls and educational staff. The United Nations education agency, UNESCO, has declared the attack as “a grave violation of humanitarian law.” The US-Israeli strikes on Iran are ongoing, and the attacks on civilian targets and war crimes against the Iranian people are too many to list here.

Your office is surely aware that the Head of State and Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with several members of his family, including his 14-month-old granddaughter, Zahra Mohammadi, was targeted and martyred at age 86 in his regular place of residence. The late Ayatollah Khamenei was both a political and spiritual leader and his assassination has saddened and outraged people of conscience across the world, including Canada.

In the face of these facts, we are dismayed by your February 28th statement, in which the illegal unprovoked U.S.- Israeli war on Iran is framed as “Iran-related hostilities.” This is an outrageous misrepresentation of responsibility, victim-blaming of the highest order. The statement indicates that Iran, is the “main source of instability in the region,” despite the fact Iran has not started a war of aggression against any country in over 200 years. Meanwhile Israel, an apartheid regime which has committed genocide in Gaza and attacked five other countries over the past two years, “has a right to defend itself.”

Your assertion that Iran “must never be allowed to obtain or develop nuclear weapons,” is a tired propaganda point used to justify and manufacture consent for the war on Iran. The late Ayatollah Khamenei and all Iranian diplomatic teams have always indicated that Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons, a fact which has been verified by the most comprehensive inspections of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and testified under oath by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. Meanwhile, Israel maintains nuclear ambiguity with zero recourse.

Your statement re-iterates Canada’s call on Iran “to end its nuclear program.” However, there is no legal basis for Canada or any other state to make such demands of another sovereign nation. Iran, as a member of the NonProliferation Treaty (NPT), reserves the right to develop and use its peaceful nuclear program for civilian applications such as research, medicine, and energy.

Your statement further indicates that “Canada stands with the Iranian people” while also stating that “Canada supports the United States” in its military aggressions against Iran. Supporting the U.S. in dropping explosives on the people of Iran, and standing with the people of Iran who will continue to be killed and dismembered by those very bombs, cannot be reconciled. Statements which attempt to hide or invert reality and policies which support war crimes will further undermine the credibility of the Canadian government.

The war crimes and crime against humanity committed by the U.S. and Israel expose the propaganda that Western governments want to “help” the people of Iran. This Western “help”, used to be primarily in the form of maximum pressure sanctions hindering all aspects of daily life, including access to life-saving medication, as well as the assassination of Iranian leaders and scientists. It has now been escalated into nation-wide bombardments, terrorist attacks, and mass slaughter of Iranians since June 2025.

We do not want to see more Iranian lives lost. We do not want our Canadian government to support the killing of our family members and loved ones in Iran.

We ask that the Canadian government:

- Withdraw Canada’s endorsement of these strikes and issue a corrected statement;

- Publish explicit UN -Charter language applying the same legal standard for belligerents;

- Call for the immediate cessation of U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran;

- Support IAEA verification and renewed diplomacy.

Canada has the opportunity to change course. We once again urge and call upon the Canadian government to condemn the illegal U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, not participate in the war on Iran in any way whatsoever, and use diplomatic means to de-escalate the situation, uphold international law, and protect Iranian lives.

Iranian Canadian Congress

Click here to download a printable version of this statement.