In the aftermath of the U.S. airstrikes on Iran Saturday, Prime Minister Mark Carney has called for a de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East and for parties to “return immediately to the negotiating table.”
“Iran’s nuclear programme is a grave threat to international security, and Canada has been consistently clear that Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon,” he wrote in a statement shared to X Sunday morning. “While U.S. military action taken last night was designed to alleviate that threat, the situation in the Middle East remains highly volatile. Stability in the region is a priority.
“As G7 leaders agreed in Kananaskis, the resolution of the Iranian crisis should lead to a broader de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza,” he continued, adding, “Canada calls on parties to return immediately to the negotiating table and reach a diplomatic solution to end this crisis.”
Speaking outside of a hotel in Brussels, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she and other officials briefed the prime minister on Sunday’s flight to Europe on the “very volatile” situation in Iran.
Anand said she highlighted numerous calls that she had with counterparts in Europe and the Middle East, including with the foreign minister of Iran.
On the call with her Iranian counterpart, Anand said she emphasized the importance of the safety and security of Canadians in the region as well as the importance of de-escalation. She said she also raised Flight PS752 — a passenger plane shot down by Iran in 2020, killing dozens of Canadians on board — in her conversation.
“The reality is, over the past decades Iran has been developing its nuclear capacity and it is a source of grave instability in the region,” Anand said.
Anand said the government wants to see negotiations resume, a resolution to the issue and peace.
The minister said the government is ensuring that it has increased consular support throughout the region, including at borders.
The government is also making sure there are options for air travel and ground transportation wherever possible, Anand said. She reminded Canadians in the area to register with Global Affairs Canada.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre weighed in as well on Sunday.
“Allowing the genocidal regime in Iran to get a nuclear weapon would have been reckless. American and Israeli actions to stop it from getting one are 100% justified,” he said in a post on X.
Poilievre called on the government to protect Canadians from “violence spilling into our communities at home” and from Iran’s attempts to intimidate Canada’s Jewish and Persian communities.
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He also said he hopes the Iranian people “will rise up and put an end to this appalling regime so the people can live in freedom and the world can live in peace.”
Several close U.S. allies also noted the threat posed by Tehran’s nuclear program but urged a return to the negotiating table in the wake of the strikes, which have fuelled fears of a wider conflict. Some countries and groups in the Middle East, including those that support Iran, condemned the move while also urging de-escalation.
U.S. President Donald Trump had said Thursday that he would decide within two weeks whether to get involved in Israel’s war with Tehran. In the end, it took just days. Washington hit three Iranian nuclear sites early Sunday.
This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows damage at the Fordo enrichment facility in Iran after U.S. strikes, Sunday, June 22, 2025.
Maxar Technologies via AP
While the amount of damage remained unclear, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the U.S. had “crossed a very big red line.” He also said the time for diplomacy was over and that Iran has the right to defend itself.
Some have questioned whether a weakened Iran would capitulate or remain defiant and begin striking with allies at U.S. targets scattered across the Gulf region.
The Associated Press reported Iran fired a new volley of missiles into Israel in the hours after the U.S. strikes, destroying apartment buildings and homes in three cities and wounding at least 23 people.
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed” by the use of force by the United States.
“There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control — with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world,” he said in a statement on the social media platform X. “I call on Member States to de-escalate.”
“There is no military solution. The only path forward is diplomacy.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for Iran to return to the negotiating table to diplomatically end the crisis, saying stability was the priority in the volatile region.
The U.K., along with the European Union, France and Germany, tried unsuccessfully to broker a diplomatic solution with Iran in Geneva last week.
Starmer said Iran’s nuclear program posed a grave threat to global security.
“Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and the U.S. has taken action to alleviate that threat,” Starmer said.
Dmitry Medvedev, who serves as deputy head of President Vladimir Putin’s Security Council, said several countries were prepared to supply Tehran with nuclear weapons.
He didn’t specify which countries, but said the U.S. attack caused minimal damage and would not stop Tehran from pursuing nuclear weapons.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemned” the airstrikes and called them a “a gross violation of international law, the U.N. Charter, and U.N. Security Council resolutions.”
The Iraqi government condemned the U.S. strikes, saying the military escalation created a grave threat to peace and security in the Middle East. It said it poses serious risks to regional stability and called for diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the crisis.
“The continuation of such attacks risks dangerous escalation with consequences that extend beyond the borders of any single state, threatening the security of the entire region and the world,” government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi said in the statement.
In Rome, Pope Leo XIV made a strong appeal for peace during his Sunday Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s square, calling for international diplomacy to “silence the weapons.”
After an open reference to the “alarming” situation in Iran, the first American pontiff stressed that “today more than ever, humanity cries out and invokes peace and it is a cry that demands reason and must not be stifled.”
Pope Leo urged every member of the international community to take up their moral responsibility to “stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss.”
— With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press