The Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom Canada (WILPF) and the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW) issued a joint statement to denounce Prime Minister Carney’s and Foreign Affairs Minister Anand’s statement on “On the situation in the Middle East”, which failed to condemn the illegal air strikes carried by the United States and Israel against Iran. At the emergency hearing at the United Nations’ Security Council, the UN reported that at least twenty cities have been targeted and hundreds of Iranians including school girls have been killed in the U.S.-Israel act of aggression. Carney and Anand expressed no criticism of U.S.-Israeli actions and no sympathy for the Iranian people who have been killed and who have suffered under decades of illegal sanctions by the U.S.
In their statement, Carney and Anand asserted that “Canada supports the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security.” The U.S.-Israel’s violent intervention, Operation Epic Fury, was not a defensive operation and was not needed to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. At the negotiations in Geneva this past week, Oman’s Foreign Minister who mediated the talks confirmed that Iran was not seeking a nuclear weapon and that a peace deal was “within reach.” A deal could have been reached with continued dialogue and diplomacy. We recall that it was President Trump during his first administration that the U.S. withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, in 2018. The second U.S.-Israel attack against Iran in eight months was another grave violation of international law and was conducted for a regime change operation against the leadership in Tehran.
Carney and Anand overlooked the fact that it is Israel that possesses nuclear weapons and has refused to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and be subject to oversight by the International Atomic Energy Agency. As well, as confirmed in the UN General Assembly report of November 2024, it is Israel that has continuously blocked a proposal for a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction (Middle East NWFZ). Moreover, it is Israel that has carried out a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people as determined by the International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory last September. None of this context is cited in the Prime Minister’s and Foreign Minister’s statement.
As Canadian women’s peace organizations, we call for the U.S. and Israel to end their aggression against Iran. We appeal to Prime Minister Carney and Foreign Minister Anand to demonstrate their commitment to the UN Charter and condemn the U.S.’s and Israel’s illegal attack. Canada should call for renewed negotiations with Iran for a lasting peace in West Asia and the establishment of a Middle East NWFZ. To prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, all countries, including the U.S., Israel, Iran, Canada etc. should join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). WILPF and VOW send our sympathies and solidarity to the women and families of Iran and express our commitment to work for peace and justice to end the cycle of violence. We appeal for de-escalation and diplomacy to end the crisis, a Middle East NWFZ, and a world beyond war and nuclear weapons.
Our statement to Prime Minister Carney and Foreign Minister Anand is here.
SOURCES:
Canada Wide Peace and Justice Network webinar and Statement: Hands Off Iran
UN Security Council meeting in emergency session over Iran February 28, 2026
Peace ‘within reach’ as Iran agrees no nuclear material stockpile: Oman FM February 28, 2026
Report of the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction on the work of its fifth session
UN General Assembly,
November 2024
Read the Iranian Foreign Minister Dr. Seyed Abbas Araghchi’s speech to the Al Jazeera Forum last month and what he says about Iran’s support for Palestine
