Iranian Canadian Congress is devastated to hear the news of Israel’s latest attack against Iran. Among the targets were residential buildings, and the victims included children. Our hearts go out to our compatriots in Iran. We are sure so many in the diaspora, like us, frantically reached out to family as soon as they heard the news, to assure their safety.

As an organization whose mandate includes “advocating  peace, dialogue, and collaboration between Canada and other nations”, ICC has consistently called attention to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and called upon our Canadian government to broker a just and lasting peace in the region. We have always been keenly aware of the possibility that military actions would expand into Iran, and while it came close to that on several occasions, today we fear that the escalations have brought us to the tipping point.

With war looming, we are also concerned regarding the current state of Canada-Iran relations. In the context of recent travel bans imposed by U.S. President Trump that include Iran, the lack of Iranian consular services in Canada is a grave concern, as so many of us would do everything in our power to bring our relatives to safety, especially given that until recently Iranian-Canadians had to make use of the Iranian office in the Pakistani Embassy in the U.S. to meet their consular needs.

We therefore urge our Canadian politicians more urgently than ever, to expedite the re-establishment of consular services, to act as an arbitrator to ceasefire in West Asia, and to extend a helping hand to support those affected by war.