| Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW)60 Lowther AvenueToronto, OntarioM5R 1C7 | Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF) Canadac/o PO Box 11466, Vancouver RPORiver District, BCV5S 0J3 |
February 28, 2026
STATEMENT
WILPF and VOW denounce Prime Minister Carney and Foreign Affairs Minister Anand’s Statement on “On the situation in the Middle East” and we condemn illegal U.S.-Israel aggression against Iran
We, the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW) and the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom Canada (WILPF), denounce Prime Minister Carney and Foreign Affairs Minister Anand’s Statement on “On the situation in the Middle East” issued today, 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. WILPF and VOW send our sympathies and solidarity to the women and families of Iran and our commitment to work for peace and social justice for all people with the people of Iran.
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 historic 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). We appeal for peace for the people of West Asia, a Middle East NWFZ, and a world beyond war and nuclear weapons.
SOURCE:
UN Security Council meeting in emergency session over Iran
February 28, 2026
https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/02/1167060
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