{"id":1162,"date":"2026-07-08T11:39:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162"},"modified":"2026-07-08T11:39:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:39:32","slug":"canada-should-start-talking-with-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162","title":{"rendered":"Canada Should Start Talking With Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Leave it to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to casually drop a policy bombshell in a press conference. Two weeks ago, he pointed out that Canada\u2019s lack of diplomatic ties with Venezuela had hampered its ability to respond to the horrific earthquake there, and so he proposed reopening the Canadian embassy in not only Caracas but also Tehran.<\/p>\n

Read more The Age of Reading Is Over<\/a><\/p>\n

The suggestion has enraged many of the victims and fierce opponents of the Islamic Republic who have found refuge in Canada. But Iranian Canadians could stand to rethink this opposition to diplomatic ties with Iran. In fact, as one of them, I think we must.<\/p>\n

I left Iran for Canada in 2008 because I was a vocal critic of the regime and had come to fear for my safety. As a journalist in Toronto, I helped expose some of the Islamic Republic\u2019s covert activities on Canadian soil. In 2015, when Canada last sought to reestablish ties with Iran, one major obstacle was the fact that Iran was holding two permanent residents of Canada as political prisoners. One of them was my father, the filmmaker Mostafa Azizi (he was released a year later and has since returned to Canada). But unlike many of my fellow anti-regime Iranian Canadians, I never thought cutting diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic was a good idea.<\/p>\n

Canada first shut down its Iranian embassy, in Ottawa, in 2012. Among other legitimate grievances, the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper cited the gruesome 2003 death in custody of the Iranian Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi, as well as Tehran\u2019s support for terrorist groups whose victims have included Canadians. The list of wrongs has continued to grow in the years since: In January 2020, Iranian security forces shot down a Ukrainian civilian airliner, killing all 176 people on board, including 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents of Canada (Iran claims that this was an accident).<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only has the regime not cooperated with respect to truth and accountability in those cases, it has stonewalled Canada at every turn,\u201d Kaveh Shahrooz, an Iranian Canadian lawyer in Toronto and a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, told me. Shahrooz favored the severing of diplomatic relations with Iran on both \u201cjustice and national-security grounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

I am as appalled as anyone by the Islamic Republic\u2019s crimes, but I am not convinced that nonengagement has served to counter them, or yielded any other tangible benefit. Canada now spearheads an annual resolution at the United Nations General Assembly condemning Iran\u2019s dismal human-rights record. This is useful, but most of the resolution\u2019s European co-signers have embassies in Tehran. Sustaining diplomatic ties not only does not stop the Europeans from criticizing the Islamic Republic by means of the UN resolution; it also gives them additional leverage and more direct avenues by which to apply pressure.<\/p>\n

Sustaining diplomatic relations can allow for people-to-people ties in fields such as trade, sports, and culture. Over time, these kinds of relations can have an effect on a closed society like Iran\u2019s. They threaten the regime\u2019s monopoly on information, for example. That\u2019s why Iran\u2019s Islamist hard-liners attack Western embassies and cultural institutes as dens of corrupting influence\u2014and why freedom-minded Iranians flock to international cultural spaces, such as the German Language Institute (the successor to Tehran\u2019s Goethe-Institut), which the Iranian authorities shut down in 2024.<\/p>\n

Read more Perhaps the Nazi Tattoo Was a Clue<\/a><\/p>\n

Diplomatic engagement can also influence the complex factional politics inside the Iranian regime. For decades, the Islamic Republic has been internally divided over foreign policy. Some insiders have pushed for toning down anti-Western extremism and for cultivating relations with Western countries. These insiders are critical of the extraterritorial adventures of Iran\u2019s security forces precisely because they see them as harmful to Iran\u2019s global diplomatic stature. By engaging diplomatically, Canada could help boost these critics to win the internal argument.<\/p>\n

The past 14 years have included some flurries of diplomatic contact between Iran and the West. One of the most significant came in 2015, when the United States and five other powerful countries signed a nuclear deal with Iran. Canada\u2014a middle power with a significant Iranian-diaspora population\u2014played no role in this venture because it had no diplomatic ties.<\/p>\n

I am not naive about the possibilities of diplomacy. Iranian embassies in the West, including the one in Ottawa, have been known to engage in malign behavior. Under the guise of diplomats, members of Iran\u2019s security forces could come to Canada to keep an eye on their Iranian critics abroad, or even to plot terror attacks. Iran is known to monitor Jewish institutions and Israel-linked organizations in many countries, and has targeted them for violent attacks. Its role in attacks in Australia led Canberra to cut ties last year. In 2020, a diplomat operating out of Iran\u2019s embassy in Vienna was convicted by a Belgian court of \u201cattempted terrorist murder.\u201d Sentenced to 20 years in jail, he was later released to Tehran in a prisoner exchange. (Iran often holds Western citizens hostage to enable such exchanges.)<\/p>\n

The regime could also use diplomatic ties to pressure Canada to drop its support for Iranian civil-society actors, perhaps by offering trade or energy concessions in return. Or it could simply prove impervious to the counterpressure Canada might bring to bear. \u201cMany of the heinous crimes committed by the Iranian regime against Iranians and Canadians occurred while Canada had diplomatic relations with Iran,\u201d Shahrooz pointed out. \u201cOur presence there and our \u2018push\u2019 had no effect. I fail to see why it would be different now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the opposite tack\u2014sanctions and isolation\u2014has neither made the Iranian regime weaker nor made its behavior better. Canada could try another way. If it restored diplomatic relations, it could keep a close eye on Iran\u2019s activities on Canadian soil, push hard on its human-rights violations and other crimes, and do more to build a Western alliance of support for Iran\u2019s civil-society and pro-democracy forces\u2014all while also diplomatically engaging the dictators in Tehran. Canada could use that engagement to undermine the Iranian regime\u2019s boogeyman image of the West, while finding areas of collaboration that could benefit the people of both countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngagement is not endorsement,\u201d Carney said, in defense of his proposed policy.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s right. Even as it seeks to stand up to Iran, Canada could do so from a new address in Tehran.<\/p>\n

Read more The Change to Trump\u2019s Power That Further Politicizes Everyday Life<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Restoring diplomatic ties doesn\u2019t necessarily benefit the Islamic Republic and can even help its opponents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global"],"yoast_head":"\nCanada Should Start Talking With Iran - Commercial Relocation Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Canada Should Start Talking With Iran - Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Restoring diplomatic ties doesn\u2019t necessarily benefit the Islamic Republic and can even help its opponents.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-08T11:39:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1162#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1162\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a\"},\"headline\":\"Canada Should Start Talking With Iran\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-08T11:39:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1162\"},\"wordCount\":1090,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1162#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/cfc6fe5a5ce0ac2325f9ef427278f1b5.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Global\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1162#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1162\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1162\",\"name\":\"Canada Should Start Talking With Iran - Commercial Relocation Pros\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1162#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1162#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/cfc6fe5a5ce0ac2325f9ef427278f1b5.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-08T11:39:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1162#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1162\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1162#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/cfc6fe5a5ce0ac2325f9ef427278f1b5.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/cfc6fe5a5ce0ac2325f9ef427278f1b5.avif\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":625},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1162#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Canada Should Start Talking With Iran\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Commercial Relocation Pros\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Canada Should Start Talking With Iran - Commercial Relocation Pros","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Canada Should Start Talking With Iran - Commercial Relocation Pros","og_description":"Restoring diplomatic ties doesn\u2019t necessarily benefit the Islamic Republic and can even help its opponents.","og_url":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162","og_site_name":"Commercial Relocation Pros","article_published_time":"2026-07-08T11:39:32+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a"},"headline":"Canada Should Start Talking With Iran","datePublished":"2026-07-08T11:39:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162"},"wordCount":1090,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cfc6fe5a5ce0ac2325f9ef427278f1b5.avif","articleSection":["Global"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162","url":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162","name":"Canada Should Start Talking With Iran - Commercial Relocation Pros","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cfc6fe5a5ce0ac2325f9ef427278f1b5.avif","datePublished":"2026-07-08T11:39:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cfc6fe5a5ce0ac2325f9ef427278f1b5.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cfc6fe5a5ce0ac2325f9ef427278f1b5.avif","width":1200,"height":625},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1162#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Canada Should Start Talking With Iran"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/","name":"Commercial Relocation Pros","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com"],"url":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}