A sign on the door of the Iranian embassy in Ottawa on Saturday, telling Iranians that embassy staff would be unable to help them with consular services, was the first sign of difficulties to come for Iranian-Canadians.
"Due to the hostile decisions of the Canadian government, the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Ottawa is closed and has no choice but to cease the consular service of our dear compatriots," read the sign, taped to the door of Iran's only diplomatic mission in North America.
>>>"I can only imagine the impact of this sort of behaviour and the hate crimes it can condition and cause," said [Hamid] Dabashi.
"Anytime diplomatic relations are severed, drums of war are raised louder, corrupt politicians and radical fanatics thrive, the rule of reason and sanity fails, and ordinary people on both sides of the divide suffer most."
"Over the last thirty years plus, the ruling regime in Iran has violated the most basic human rights of its own citizens and it was not in the interest of Canada to raise an eyebrow," said Dabashi.
"Right now, after the NAM conference in Iran outmanoeuvred the US and Israel in manufacturing a global consent on isolating Iran, this move by the Canadian government is to renew the US-Israeli design to paint Iran as a rogue state by way of justifying their crippling economic sanctions, and possibly even a military strike."
